Our contribution to the research evaluation of the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering at TU Dresden

In 2016/17, an evaluation procedure was established at TU Dresden as part of the development of quality management in research, with the help of which faculties are guided into the future with a sense of strategic development. The evaluation of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in 2021/22 is the seventh round since the establishment of research evaluations at TU Dresden. The performance and further development of the faculty in the areas of research, knowledge transfer, and promotion of young researchers as well as in the area of teaching will be evaluated. This evaluation is commissioned decentrally by the TU Dresden university management.

In spring 2022, the faculty first submitted a self-report to an external, internationally composed, 14-member evaluation commission. In this report, the Boysen-TU Dresden Research Training Group was explicitly described in detail in the subchapter Selected Highlights of Faculty-Related Support for Young Researchers.

During the faculty visit by the Evaluation Commission on June 16^th and 17^th 2022, which was carried out as part of the evaluation, the Boysen-TU Dresden Research Training Group had the opportunity to present the special features of our Research Training Group and what distinguishes it in its daily interdisciplinary cooperation. The experts were very interested and asked a lot of questions during the presentation, which was given by Prof. Hurtado and Dr. Martius, and the originally planned ten minutes were exceeded many times over. After the presentation of the Dresden Center for Intelligent Materials (DCIM) by Prof. Cuniberti, doctoral students from various chairs of the faculty were invited to discuss questions about the promotion of young researchers in two separate rounds of talks with the evaluation commission. These included, for example, the average time taken to submit dissertations. Andrea Hauslbauer and Jakub Dòstal from the Boysen-TU Dresden Research Training Group took part in these discussions.

In a concluding event, the Boysen-TU Dresden Research Training Group was highlighted as a positive example and role model for the promotion of young researchers at the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering by Prof. Seidler (Rector of TU Vienna), the Chair of the Evaluation Commission. A final report by the Evaluation Commission will be available by the end of August 2022; it will contain recommendations for the strategic further development of the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering.