Two young researchers from the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering receive Add-on Fellowship from the Joachim Herz Foundation

Dr. Sara Marchini and Dr. Johannes Mersch from TU Dresden have been awarded an Add-on Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Science and Transfer by the Joachim Herz Foundation for their outstanding research achievements. Marchini is a research group leader at the Chair of Chemical Process Engineering, Mersch heads a research group at the Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material Technology (ITM).

Dr. Sara Marchini has been awarded an Add-on Fellowship to support her research project in the field of chemical energy storage. The focus is on the development of novel composite materials for the safe and efficient chemical storage of hydrogen. The aim is to use innovative material concepts to open up new avenues for compact, reversible and resource-saving hydrogen storage.

Dr. Mersch has been awarded the fellowship for his research into new textile, fibre-based materials with active and sensory properties. He focuses on the entire system - from fiber production to surface formation and application. One example is highly twisted, helical fibers that undergo large deformations when the temperature changes. These materials can also replace climate-damaging refrigerants as elastocaloric materials. In order for them to be transferred from the laboratory into practice, suitable textile manufacturing and processing methods must be developed in addition to the material properties.

Both fellows will receive personal funding of up to 15,000 euros for two years and will become part of a nationwide network of young scientists committed to sustainable and future-oriented research.

About Dr. Sara Marchini

Marchini studied chemical engineering at the University of Pisa. She came to Dresden via the EU's Erasmus+ program to write her master's thesis at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR). She then completed her doctorate at the Chair of Imaging Techniques in Energy and Process Engineering at TU Dresden on the topic of "Development of a Methodology for Measuring Axial Gas Dispersion Coefficients in Bubble Columns using Gas Flow Modulation". She has received several awards for her research work: In May 2025, she received the Gisela and Erwin Sick University Prize for Metrology. This was followed shortly afterwards by the "Manfred Hirschvogel Prize" for the best dissertation in mechanical engineering. Further awards followed, including the Dr. Wilhelmy VDI Prize in September 2025 and the dissertation prize from Commerzbank's Dresden Cultural Foundation in November. Since April 2025, the native Italian has been working as a group leader at the Chair of Chemical Process Engineering.

About Dr. Johannes Mersch

Mersch studied mechanical engineering at TU Dresden and then completed his doctorate at the Institute of Solid State Electronics at TU Dresden on the topic of "Structure-integrated sensor networks in interactive fiber elastomer composites and their electromechanical network models". He then conducted research as a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Austrian Academy of Sciences at the Johannes Kepler University Linz. For his dissertation on soft adaptive materials, he received the Gisela and Erwin Sick University Prize for Metrology in 2023 as well as the sponsorship award of the Friends and Sponsors of the ITM of TU Dresden e.V.. Since October 2024, Mersch has been Research Group Leader for Sensor, Measurement and Actuator Technology at the Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material Technology.

With the Add-on Fellowships for Interdisciplinary Science and Transfer, the Joachim Herz Foundation supports up to 80 scientists from the fields of engineering, economics and life sciences who are pursuing innovative projects and want to strengthen their transfer potential.

Contact:

Dr.-Ing. Sara Marchini
Chair of Chemical Process Engineering
Institute of Process Engineering and Environmental Technology
Phone: +49 351 463-32046
E-mail:

Dr.-Ing. Johannes Mersch
Chair of Development and Assembly of Textile Products
Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material Technology
Phone +49 351 463-33766
E-mail: