Funding examples

Students stand in a semicircle and listen to a man. — © Hans Georg Lippert

Numerous people pose for a group picture. — © Max Schmidt

Three young people are standing in a laboratory. They are wearing lab coats and protective masks. — © Paula Santos-Otte

Young people sit and stand outside in a field and work. — © Julia Krafft, Lucas Klinkenbusch

A young woman stands in front of a wall labeled Harvard Medical School. — © Lisa Schütze

Young people stand on a hill and take photos of the surroundings. — © Natalia Fomina

In 2025, the Funds for Student Research (FOSTER) celebrated its fifth anniversary as part of the “TUD 2028 – Synergy and Beyond” Excellence Strategy.
FOSTER can look back on an extremely positive track record. Through calls for proposals and regular funding, more than 230 impressive research projects by students and faculty at TU Dresden have been carried out to date.

Whether it’s a research stay, the publication of a paper, a summer school, or the completion of a student research project—the range of funded projects across all departments at our university impresses with its diversity and interdisciplinary nature.

On this page, you’ll gain insight into our funded projects and the success stories of FOSTER participants. Be amazed by the excellent student research at TU Dresden and let yourself be inspired!

FOSTER grantees in conversation

Drei junge Frauen stehen vor einem Plakat.

Nele Kheim and Helen Rothfuß: BioS Reports

FOSTER promotes student research and thus gives it more visibility. One of these projects is BioS Reports by Nele Kheim and Helen Rothfuß, who give interesting insights into the possibilities of FOSTER funding in an interview. Learn more

Lena Rieck: Participation in the European Group of Organization Studies (EGOS)

Technologies make communication accessible to more people and minimize boundaries between status groups? Lena Rieck refutes this theory and shows that video conferencing can actually reinforce existing barriers and significantly hinder participation and cross-departmental work. She presented the results of her study, supported by FOSTER, at EGOS in Vienna. Learn more

Sieben Menschen stehen vor einer bunten Wand.

iGEM: Diatom-based Remediation using Immobilized Proteins (DRIP)

The iGEM team is dedicated to researching a biological platform for the removal of micropollutants such as pharmaceutical residues and nanoplastics. With the help of FOSTER, the idea was developed in the laboratory and experiments were carried out. The result: a gold medal, a TOP10 ranking and several nominations for the project in the world's largest synthetic biology competition. Learn more

Acht junge Menschen werden mit Urkunden ausgezeichnet.

Anne Jaschan, Patricia Beuter and Natalie Fichte

The Student Research Exposition is an exhibition of student research projects at TU Dresden. Students from all disciplines have the opportunity to present their final thesis, seminar paper or other research project to a non-specialist audience - either as a pitch and poster or as a science slam. In this interview, the organizers talk about how FOSTER supported them. Learn more

A young man holds a certificate in his hand.

Alexander A. Zyla: Participation in ISPC25 in Kyoto, Japan

With the support of FOSTER, Alexander A. Zyla presented the results of his diploma thesis at the 25th International Symposium on Plasma Chemistry in Kyoto. For his feasibility study, which he carried out using a novel process principle of a two-phase plasma catalyst, he received the "Silver Medal" award during the poster presentation. Learn more

Book cover of Sächsische Realitäten: Analysen aktueller Protestphänomene der radikalen Rechten in Sachsen (Saxon Realities: Analyses of Current Protest Phenomena of the Radical Right in Saxony), edited by Michael Krell and Tom Böhme.

Michael Krell and Tom Böhme: Anthology "Saxon Realities"

How do radical right-wing protest movements organize themselves in Saxony? What role does the micro-party "Free Saxony" play? Michael Krell and Tom Böhme carried out an interdisciplinary research project with FOSTER support - and published an anthology. In this interview, they talk about their findings, challenges and the importance of student research. Learn more

Playground in front of a historic old town setting with half-timbered houses; in the background, the twin-towered façade of the Gothic Market Church of St. Cosmas and Damian in Einbeck under a blue, partly cloudy sky.

Jonathan Möller: Participation in the spring conference of the DPG

With the support of FOSTER, Jonathan Moeller organized a workshop on the reform of physics exercises at the DPG conference in Göttingen. The focus: better teaching through structural changes. The results appear in the conference proceedings PhyDid B. Learn more

Portrait photo of a young man with short brown hair, fair complexion, and blue eyes. He is wearing a dark suit, a white shirt, and a blue tie. The background is a neutral gray.

Johannes Achberger: Development and establishment of an oncolytic immunotherapy in a targeted manner against glioblastomas

Johannes Achberger is working on the development of a new therapy for malignant brain tumors. He is focusing on the use of oncolytic virotherapy. The oncolytic viruses destroy tumor cells in a targeted manner (oncolysis) and support the immune system in recognizing and fighting the tumor. Learn more

A young man with dark blond hair and glasses smiles at the camera.

Gilbert Wohlfromm: Scrolling and Manhood

In his master’s thesis, Gilbert Wohlfromm examined how social media content that portrays traditional masculinity influences men’s experience of stress. To this end, he developed his own measurement tool and surveyed 517 German-speaking men—made possible by funding from FOSTER, which ensured a sufficiently large sample size for reliable results. Learn more

Three students carrying backpacks walk through a large, glasspaned wooden door, laughing, and enter a brightly lit room with a round ceiling light.

Nina Henninger and Lilly Sommer: Solidarity Behavior in East and West Germany

Previous studies have shown that individuals socialized in East Germany exhibited less solidarity than those socialized in West Germany. In their master’s theses, Nina Henninger and Lilly Sommer investigated whether this effect is still evident among students today and how the socialization of people in East and West Germany after 1990 has influenced certain values. Learn more

A young man with brown hair is smiling at the camera.

Michael Grohmann: AI Vision in Processing Technology

Michael Grohmann investigated how machine learning and machine vision can make industrial production more flexible and efficient. As part of the FOSTER-supported project, a method was developed to detect the position and rotation of objects from depth images, thereby assisting industrial robots with grasping, for example. Learn more

A woman stands in front of a pinboard and presents a poster. Other people sit in the audience and listen to her.

Carolina Kolodziej: Teaching-learning format ARCH4HEALTH Student Research Lab

In the ARCH4HEALTH Student Research Lab, students go through the entire research process on social and health-related construction topics within one semester. The module is based on the concept of research-based learning and is dedicated to one current research topic per semester. The aim is to make the findings visible through publications and poster sessions. Learn more

Two students are sitting at a table, bending over a file folder. A woman stands in front of them and looks at the documents.

Matthias Ritter and Julia Nowak: Teaching-learning format "Research colloquium for student teachers"

Student teachers often lack support when writing their academic thesis. In addition, they are rarely involved in research projects. A peer-supported research colloquium has therefore been set up to support students in writing their state examination theses, improve the quality of their work and provide practical research experience. Learn more

Curious about more projects?

Each funding cycle features a Book of Abstracts, which showcases all funded projects and offers a deeper look into the opportunities available through FOSTER funding:

Four hands holding up different newspapers against a bright orange background. The newspapers display text and images related to business and finance.

Don't miss any more news and success stories!

Discover the news overview on the FOSTER homepage! Here you can gain insights into current projects, success stories and experiences of our funded students and project teams. From exciting research experiences to impressive presentations - let yourself be inspired and find out what is possible in the field of research-oriented learning. Experience now

Funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and the Free State of Saxony as part of the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State governments