New Year's greetings

Dear members, dear supporters, dear friends and alumni of the Boysen-TU Dresden- Research Training Group,

At the end of 2025, we were able to look back on an impressive record: With Zarina Chokparova in May and Lauritz Bühler in December 2025, further RTG doctoral students successfully defended their dissertations and added two more names to the Boysen-TU Dresden- Research Training Group sash. This sash bears the names of all former doctoral students since the first cohort - as a visible sign of solidarity across the funded cohorts. It is not only intended to make the Kolleg community visible, but also to inspire subsequent researchers: "This is possible. We've done it before - and you can do it too."

For the Friedrich and Elisabeth Boysen Foundation and the TUD Dresden University of Technology, a successful doctorate is the central hallmark of quality - and at the same time an expression of the responsibility to effectively contribute scientific knowledge to social developments.

We are looking forward to 2026 with great confidence, and with Dr. Matthias Ritter as the RTG's new scientific coordinator, we are looking forward to new impulses and the further development of the RTG in terms of content and structure. Most of the Research Training Group's 4th cohort are on the home stretch of their funding phase and are receiving intensive support together with their supervisors - with the aim of successfully completing their research work. At the same time, the planning of the 5th cohort is high on our agenda and marks the beginning of a new research journey that we would like to continue with you in the future.

May the year 2026 be characterized by new ideas, valuable encounters, scientific breakthroughs and the joy of working together.

Thinking ahead together - moving forward together.