Funded Student Projects
Mathematics and Sciences
In their mathematics studies at the TU Dresden, Ms. Ketelsen and Mr. Ziegler specialize in algebraic number theory. Participation in the summer school on the subject of quadratic forms expands their perspective on number theory and enables them to get to know current research questions. There is also the opportunity to come into contact with other motivated researchers and students early on in the course of study. In addition, the students acquire specialist knowledge that can be used for future research. In the long term, the contacts made will promote the existing inter-university exchange with Antwerp.
Link Summer School
Contact persons: Margarete Ketelsen and Alexander Ziegler
Institution: Faculty of Mathematics, Chair of Algebra
FOSTER Funding Line: STATA
"Unfolding emptiness: a cross-cultural view on minimalist architectures" was the title of Teresa Müller's poster contribution presenting her research in architectural psychology on behalf of the TU Dresden at the conference of the "International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA)". This congress brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines who use empirical methods to investigate aesthetic experiences, and was held in Philadelphia in early September 2022. To date, it is a unique event in the field of "Empirical Aesthetics."
Funding provided by FOSTER made it possible for Ms. Müller to attend this extraordinary conference.
conference link: https://www.iaeaphilly2022.com
Contact Person: Teresa Müller
Institution: Faculty of Psychology
FOSTER Funding Line: STATA
With the funds provided, Ms. Behnsen was able to research for four month at Boston University at the professorship of John Porco. The research internship will initiate the development of long-term joint research projects between the chairs of Professor John Porco (Boston University) and Professor Bernd Plietker (TU Dresden).
The completion of this research internship in an international environment at another university enables Ms. Behnsen personally to learn new working techniques and strategies for solving scientific problems on the one hand and promotes contact with new scientific cultures on the other. Thus, it represents an important aspect of her excellent scientific education. This research internship lays the foundation for her planned master's thesis at the TU Dresden, as well as her later doctorate and professional career.
Contact: Antonia Behnsen, Prof. Bernd Plietker
Institution: Organic Chemistry
FOSTER funding line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
This research project investigated how the usage frequencies of voice controls affect emotional aspects of the user experience of cell phones. It is a UX study from a psychological perspective.
It was found that positive emotions are more influenced by frequencies than negative emotions. Assuming that positive emotions are related to good user experience and negative emotions are due to poorly designed usability, the results confirm usabiltiy as a more stable product property. A habituation to e.g. badly designed speech recognition hardly seems to take place, so that negative emotions affect the user experience even with higher usage.
When both emotions are considered together, a change in negative emotions can also be seen, but this is more due to the positive emotions partially overshadowing the negative emotions.
The grant was used to fund conference participation. The results were presented at the "Humans and Computers 2022" conference as a paper, video presentation, and poster. Thus, first steps towards a scientific career were taken and visibility, exchange as well as networking with scientists were promoted.
Contact: Clarissa Sabrina Arlinghaus
Institution: Industrial and Organizational Psychology
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
The students Paula Berndt, Karlotta Meyn and Johanna Hirsch were enabled to participate in the symposium "Trauma without end - perspectives of counseling people with experiences of dictatorship" in the Thuringian state parliament on 18.11.22 and 19.11.22.
Central ideas of the visit of the symposium was the deepening to the content-related focal points, which were already part of their master theses, and the networking and the exchange with researchers in this field as well as with advisors of people with experiences of dictatorship.
The lectures of the speakers encouraged the students to continue to deal with the consequences of the repression in the GDR. They opened up new topics and perspectives for them and their further academic work.
Contact: Paula Berndt, Karlotta Meyn, Johanna Hirsch
Institution: Behavioral Epidemiology, information to the project about repression
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
With the help of the requested funds, participation in the conference "Operator algebras, dynamics and groups - an ICM satellite conference" in Copenhagen was made possible. In particular, travel and accommodation costs were to be covered.
In the context of his bachelor thesis, Max Schmidt dealt with the representation of C*-algebras as operator algebras over Hilbert spaces. This knowledge enabled him to consider random walks on the Cayley graph of discrete groups and to do his own calculations. During the conference, Max Schmidt was able to get to know further questions on this topic as well as to understand existing ones in more detail and thus be able to work on them independently. Furthermore, he was able to get to know current research topics from other sub-areas of the operator algebras in order to gain a better overview of the subject area in the long term and to develop his own ideas.
By getting to know young and experienced researchers, it was also possible for him to establish contacts for later collaboration and thus to stay up to date with the current state of research in the long term.
Contact: Max Schmidt, Prof. Dr. Andreas Thom
Institution: Faculty of Mathematics
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
During the week of 06/20/2022 to 06/24/2022, Alexander Ziegler attended a summer school at the Sophus Lie Center in Nordjordeid, Norway. In three mini-courses and many exercises he was brought up to date with the latest research on real and tropical algebraic geometry. Among other things, the one course on tropical ideals included a tool to understand geometric hypersurfaces as a decomposition of space into polyhedra. The mini-course on sums of squares introduced powerful positive position theorems and related them to an important class of optimization problems. The third mini-course dealt with the definition of appropriate scalar products on the vector space of homogeneous real polynomials in three variables of given degree d. This resulted in a tool to compute the probability that the zero set of a random homogeneous polynomial corresponds topologically to a certain arrangement of circles.
In the course of summer school, he got the opportunity to exchange ideas with mathematicians my age and also made contact with advanced researchers. For example, the contact with Antonio Lerario from Trieste and Sabrina Pauli from the University of Essen-Duisburg had a lasting impact on his master's thesis. The newly gained knowledge now helped him to back up his research interests with knowledge and to look for a PhD project.
Contact: Alexander Ziegler, jun.-prof. Mario Kummer
Institution: Faculty of Mathematics
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
Legionella are ubiquitous environmental bacteria. In artificial water installations, altered growth conditions lead to germination and spread of the bacteria. By inhaling aerosols containing legionella, they are able to infect humans and cause atypical pneumonia. Strains of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 mAb 3/1+ are considered particularly virulent. This virulence marker is associated with the presence of the lag-1 gene. This gene encodes an acetyltransferase that modifies the surface protein lipopolysaccharide (LPS), resulting in increased virulence. The primary aim of my work is to develop a qPCR for the detection of the lag-1 gene, to validate it according to international standards and to carry out a practical test on environmental and patient samples. In the context of my master thesis, the lag-1 PCR has already been successfully established for the qualitative detection of legionella. With this funding, the results obtained are to be published. However, further investigations are still necessary for a complete processing. On the one hand, this is the establishment of quantitative analysis to determine the Legionella concentration in environmental samples, as well as a differentiation between pathogenic (living) and dead cells (vPCR). With lag-1 qPCR or vPCR, a molecular biological tool could be developed for better identification and risk assessment of Legionella in water systems.
Contact: Dr. rer. medic Markus Petzold, Sarah Uhle
Institution: Chair of Model-Based Landscape Ecology
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Certain brain regions, such as the hippocampus in the adult mammalian brain, have adult neural stem/progenitor cells (ANSPCs) that give rise to new neurons and underlie structural and functional plasticity in the adult brain. Although the capacity of ANSPCs in the mammalian brain is restricted to a specific brain area and declines with age, other species have ANSPCs in multiple brain regions and retain their neurogenic capacity for longer. Ms Diana Zhilina and Dr Maximina Yun's project will investigate whether the mechanisms underlying the long-term maintenance of ANSPCs are conserved or different across species. They are focusing on LaminB1, a key component of the nuclear lamina that has been identified as a critical epigenetic regulator for the long-term maintenance of ANSPCs. Nuclear lamina plays a critical role in cell type-specific gene regulation, so they hypothesise that differential levels of lamina may underlie differences in neurogenic abilities. They will study the expression patterns of lamin B1 in ANSPCs and their progeny in different species such as primates, rodents, amphibians and fish and correlate them with their neurogenic abilities in the adult brain. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that determine the limits of neurogenic abilities in different species could be a breakthrough for the development of therapeutic agents to regenerate damaged brains in the future.
Contact: Dr Maximina Yun, Diana Zhilina
Institution: Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD / STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The Repression Project was initiated at the beginning of 2022 in response to student interest in research on the topic, and it is now continuing with a second survey period.
The study, titled "Psychische Folgen von Repressionserfahrungen in der DDR" (Psychological Consequences of Experiences of Repression in the GDR), aims to investigate the frequency of repression in the GDR and the prevalence of psychological abnormalities in a representative sample of the population of Dresden in 1986, taking age and gender into account. Additionally, the study seeks to explore the connection between experiences of repression and symptoms of embitterment disorder. A randomly selected sample representative of age and gender will be contacted by mail and invited to participate.
Karlotta Meyn is completing her research internship as part of the survey and will subsequently publish the results of the study in her master's thesis. Further publications in relevant journals are also planned.
FORSTER will cover the printing and postage costs, enabling a swift realization of this student research project.
Further information on the project can be found here.
Contact: Karlotta Meyn, Dr. rer. nat. Judith Schäfer
Institution: Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Chair of Behavioural Epidemiology
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
BioSReports is a student-led journal that contributes to the transfer of scientific work into society.
The following objectives are pursued:
- Connecting research and education: Presenting the results of original student research conducted within the modules of the Master's program in Biology in Society (education)
- Connecting education and science communication: Popular science presentation of current biological topics (fact checks)
- Education: Peer-to-peer course on creating comprehensible texts
- Education and career opportunities: Insight into editorial work for scientific journals (under the guidance of Prof. Reinhardt)
- Connecting education and science communication: Enhancing the external perception of TU Dresden
After the establishment phase, the journal is intended to exist in the long term. The editorial work will then be carried out by students as part of the Biology in Society program, under the guidance of Prof. Reinhardt (skill: Editorial Journal Assistant).
Further information can be found here.
Contact: Nele Kheim, Helen Rothfuß
Institution: Faculty of Biology
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
As part of his bachelor's thesis on the topic "Duality of Riesz* Homomorphisms and Interval Preserving Operators in Ordered Vector Spaces," Florian Boisen was involved in a research project conducted in collaboration with Leiden University. He also had the opportunity to present initial research results to an academic audience and engage in intensive exchanges with scholars in his field.
To gain further valuable insights into current research in the field of ordered vector spaces and positive operators, Mr. Boisen will participate in the most important conference in his research area, Positivity XI. This conference will take place in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, from July 10th to July 14th, 2023.
The funds approved by FOSTER will enable Mr. Boisen to attend the conference, where he aims to expand his existing network and gather inspiration for his future research path.
Contact: Florian Boisen
Institution: Institute of Analysis
FOSTER funding line: Participation in conferences and congresses | STATA (Student Academic Travel Award)
On his academic journey so far, Mr. Messerschmidt has primarily focused on research in the context of biomedical imaging with optical coherence tomography. The results of his master's thesis and the receipt of an EFS doctoral scholarship have encouraged him to participate in this year's 11th International Graduate Summer School Biophotonics '23. This event will take place from June 10th to June 17th, 2023, in Backafallsbyn, Sweden, and offers excellent opportunities for further education and networking in the field of biomedical imaging. Additionally, Mr. Messerschmidt will contribute his own conference paper and attend other exciting presentations, workshops, and discussion sessions.
The funding provided by FOSTER supports Mr. Messerschmidt primarily in terms of covering the conference registration fees, travel expenses, and printing costs for the poster he will be presenting at the conference.
Contact: Carl Messerschmidt
Institution: Institute of Applied Physics
FOSTER funding line: Participation in conferences and congresses | STATA (Student Academic Travel Award)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracy myths and individuals who believe in them have become much more prominent in society. According to various scientific publications, belief in conspiracy myths has a negative impact on the willingness to wear masks, practice social distancing, or get vaccinated against the virus. Additionally, people who believe in conspiracy myths seem to have less trust in the government, journalists, science, and COVID-19 measures. While the pandemic is currently receding both statistically and in terms of societal presence, conspiracy beliefs persist.
In this context, Mr. Richter aims to capture and visualize the belief systems of people who believe in conspiracy myths. To do so, he plans to use a triadic test designed by him to compare and contrast a sample from two groups: individuals who have chosen to get vaccinated and those who have decided against it. The goal is to test whether these individuals differ in their belief systems and how they perceive each other. The results of his study are intended to contribute to better conflict resolution strategies and a deeper understanding of the emergence of conspiracy myths.
Contact: Franz Richter
Institution: Chair of Psychological Methods and Cognitive Modelling
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Eating disorders (ED) are often not correctly identified despite a high prevalence (Currin et al.,2007), which can have serious consequences for affected individuals. The individual disorder pattern, especially when it does not fit the stereotype, significantly influences diagnostic accuracy (Veillette et al.,2018).
Clinician:in characteristics also moderate correct diagnosis assignment (Worsfold & Sheffield,2021). Cognitive characteristics, such as Need for Cognition (NfC), are potentially influential in this regard, which has been little studied. NfC is a person's stable disposition toward engagement with and enjoyment of challenging intellectual activity. People with high NfC perform better in cognitive tasks and think more intensely about information (Cacioppo et al.,1996).
The aim of this research project is to investigate the influence of NfC in clinicians as part of a pilot study on factors influencing clinical judgment in EDs. It will be investigated whether clinicians with high NfC, especially in atypical ED disorders, diagnose better. Likewise, it will be examined whether clinicians with high NfC can achieve a particularly strong improvement in diagnosis assignment through an educational brief intervention.
As an incentive in the specific and numerically limited target group of psychotherapists in training, 10 vouchers of 50€ each will be raffled among all participants with the help of FOSTER.
Contact: Anne-Christin Luther
Institution: Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Chair of Behavioral Epidemiology
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Mr. Lautenschläger has been working in the field of agricultural technology for some time, both for private and scientific reasons. In this context, he wrote his student research project on the topic of "Wirelessly Networked Coordination of Automatic Section Control for Agricultural Machines". He conducted both field experiments and computer simulations to investigate the performance of LoRa as a technology for exchanging process data in a networked Automatic Section Control, a prototypical application of networked vehicles in the agricultural field.
A summary of his obtained results was published in the paper "Beyond Sensing" under the title Suitability of LoRa for Meshed Automatic Section Control of Agricultural Vehicles.
Since then, he has actively participated in the online meetings of the AEF Wireless-Infield Communication Working Group and participated in the AEF Tech Week, which was held from January 23 to 26, 2023, through funds provided by FOSTER. The Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation e.V. is an independent organization that unites over 200 agricultural technology companies. Together, the members work in various working groups on new technologies and international standards in electrical engineering and informatics in agricultural technology.
Contact: Karl Christian Lautenschläger
Institution: Chair of Networked Systems Modeling
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award
In view of the worsening climate crisis, environmental psychology asks how the gap between pro-environmental attitudes and the often missing translation into concrete behaviors can be closed. At the citizen level, numerous variables have already been found that can partially explain the gap. However, since citizen-level approaches are often insufficient to bring about social change, top-down approaches that focus on closing the gap among policymakers must also be considered.
In order to investigate the attitude-behavior gap among politicians, Ms. Engel is conducting a qualitative study in the form of semi-structured interviews with citizens and politicians as part of her master's thesis. This is intended to expand the existing literature and generate new questions for future research. To maximize the reach of the study, the resulting findings will be presented at the International Conference on Environmental Psychology in Aarhus, Denmark. This will help in the medium term to disseminate the results and network with potential collaborators and in the long term support the positioning of TU Dresden as a university committed to research on the environment and climate change.
Contact: Isabelle Engel
Institution: Faculty of Psychology
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
Ms. Streidl is a trained emergency paramedic and would like to contribute to the study of the determinants of mental health in this professional group as part of her master's thesis. For this purpose, a nationwide online survey of approximately 400 emergency service personnel is to be conducted, in which they will be asked about traumatic (deployment) experiences and their consequences.
As a thank-you for participation, WUNSCH-vouchers worth 15€ will be raffled among all participants in order to create an incentive for participation. Based on the obtained results, Ms. Buchantschenko and Ms. Streidl will subsequently write their master theses in order to identify risk and protective factors of positive and negative consequences of (mission-related) traumatization among rescue service employees. Furthermore, the publication of the results in relevant journals is planned.
Contact: Heike Buchantschenko and Julia Streidl
Institution: Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Chair of Behavioural Epidemiology
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Ms. Schlemer wrote her diploma thesis at the Chair of Traffic and Transportation Psychology and researched the potential effects of novel interfaces that allow automated vehicles to communicate with pedestrians. In this context, she succeeded in observing effects on system trust and a (potentially dangerous) interaction behavior of pedestrians.
From March 15-17, 2023, Ms. Schlemer participated in the Hybrid Societies Conference, where she presented her thesis results. In this context, FOSTER supported her in financing the conference participation as well as travel and accommodation costs.
Contact: Dipl.-Ing. Magdalena Schlemer
Institution: Institute of Transport Planning and Road Traffic, Chair of Traffic and Transportation Psychology
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
Since crossing a road is particularly dangerous for pedestrians, several authors propose novel human-machine interfaces to make road crossings safer. These interfaces should communicate information to pedestrians about the behavior of the vehicle. One example of such an interface is the so-called front brake light (VBL), which functions analogously to the brake lights on the rear of motorized vehicles.
The specific goal of Ms. Bubeck's project is to explore whether and how mixed traffic of conventional vehicles (without VBL) and vehicles with VBL could affect pedestrians' willingness to cross the street. To answer this research question, she designed an online experiment and has already collected some of the needed data. The funding provided by FOSTER will support Ms. Bubeck in paying for additional participants in order to make statistically robust conclusions.
Contact: Carla Bernadette Bubeck
Institution: Institute of Transport Planning and Road Traffic, Chair of Traffic and Transportation Psychologie
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Active matter consumes energy that enables it to exert mechanical forces. For example, the biomechanical processes that shape our cells and tissues can be described as Active Fluids. To date, it is not known how Active Matter is controlled in these processes. It is also not clear what design principles lead to programmable Active Matter as observed in living systems. In her master's thesis, Ms. Geerds hopes to use simulations to investigate how it is possible to control Active Matter with biochemical feedback.
The research project of her master's degree will last for one year, includes the scientific work as well as the master's thesis. The funds provided by FOSTER will finance a three-month research stay in Geneva as part of a collaboration.
Contact: Birte Christine Geerds
Institution: Faculty of Physics
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Alexandra Kalaitzidou and Nathalie Senechal are part of a lab team project in the practice module "Immersive Experience Design" and developed a social exergame with full body tracking using virtual reality. The developed game and the related research paper were submitted by the students to the Student Game Design Competition at CHI PLAY 2022. In this context, the associated paper was selected for publication. In addition, they were given the chance to personally demonstrate their project in front of an expert audience at the CHI PLAY conference in Bremen, Germany (November 2-5, 2022).
The visit to the conference, supported by FOSTER, offered the students a unique opportunity to present their work, represent TU Dresden and get in touch with researchers from all over the world.
Contact: Alexandra Kalaitzidou and Nathalie Senechal
Institution: Junior Professorship in Immersive Media
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
As the modern workplace becomes increasingly age-diverse, it is critical that research examine how organizations can ensure the sustainable inclusion of the aging workforce.
Using an experience sampling methodology, Ms. Engel's project examines the effects of subtle discrimination on older workers:workplace well-being and organizational behavior (OCB), taking into account possible differential effects of gender. Specifically, the study examines how subtle discrimination experiences reduce job satisfaction and work engagement, two facets of workplace well-being, as well as organizational behavior.
Funding provided by FOSTER will be used to ensure the recruitment of an adequate sample of 120 older workers. The overarching goal is also to expand the literature on older workers' experiences of discrimination and to publish this research in a high-impact academic journal.
Further information can be found here.
Contact: Isabelle Engel
Institution: Faculty of Psychology
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
In recent decades, the prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically in many parts of the world. Because of its serious health risks and correlation with emotional disturbances, obesity has become one of the greatest health challenges of our time. The World Health Organization describes an unhealthy diet as one of the main causes of obesity. Therefore, it is increasingly important to gain a better understanding of how we make our dietary choices and what influences them.
In this context, the goal of Ms. Oberbauer's study is to compare food choice decision-making behavior between two sessions. One session involves working on a mindset intervention designed to focus attention on personal nutrition goals, while the other session includes a control condition. Ms. Oberbauer would like to determine how food choices are influenced by the manipulation and whether decisions are based primarily on perceived taste or also on the healthfulness of the food. A better understanding of how food choices are made and what influences them may contribute to obesity prevention and intervention in the long term.
Further information can be found here.
Contact: Barbara Oberbauer
Institution: Faculty of Psychology
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Humanities and social sciences
© Natalia Fomina
© Natalia Fomina
© Natalia Fomina
© Natalia Fomina
The research project in Colombia on inclusive and sustainable territories addresses the concept of territory from a decolonial perspective. In Western thought, territory functions as a political technology that organizes biopolitical calculation, the distribution of sovereignty, and the denial or recognition of rights. Territory is also an instrumental part of the colonial/modern system (Quijano 2007) that conceptualizes spatial difference, governs through it, and maintains colonial continuities.
It requires the co-production of knowledges with local, social, and indigenous knowledges about the relationship between modern territories, Colombian social communities, and their understandings of territory and governance. The research has simultaneously political implications for the encounter of the climate catastrophe and the Colombian peacebuilding process.
The research project is part of the Colombian-German project "Tejiendo Paz - territorios interculturales para comunidades sostenibles e inclusiva" ("Tejiendo Paz - intercultural territories for sustainable and inclusive communities ") funded by GIZ and the Diaspora 2030 project.
Quijano, A. (2007) Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality, Cultural Studies, 21 (2):168-178.
For further information visit the website of the Chair of Political Sciences with a Focus on International Politics.
Contact: Natalia Fomina
Institution: Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science
FOSTER funding line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The requested funding will enable participation in the 72nd Annual International Communication Association Conference in Paris in May.
At the conference, Ms. Martius (with Ms. Kunze as second author) will give a lecture on the topic "The quality of news articles about people with trisomy 21 in quality newspapers with regard to their stigmatization and destigmatization". As part of this research project, Ms. Martius developed a quality index, which can be used to assess the quality of news articles about people with trisomy 21 and which is also an important guide for journalists on how to deal with the topic of "stigmatization".
With the aim of drawing attention to this socially and humanly important topic, the work was submitted to the most important international conference of the subject (communication science) - the ICA. After the commitment, participation in the conference is now being funded by FOSTER.
In the course of attending the conference, current research contributions will be presented and discussed. In addition, attending a conference as a student promotes exchange with other (young) scientists and can make a valuable contribution to building your own network.
Contact: Hannah Charlotte Martius
Institution: Institute of Media and Communication
FOSTER Funding Line: STATA
Since 1989 the Erzgebirge has been a region undergoing transformation, characterized by a rich culture of remembrance, unique traditions, and notions of continuity. Historical remembrance and the awareness of an independent history are alive in everyday life. The UNESCO World Heritage status has emphatically confirmed this.
At the same time, the places that preserve these histories and cultural memories are in a partly precarious state. The historical archive of the municipality of Ehrenfriedersdorf (STAE) exemplifies a situation where local interested citizens and local historians actively advocate for a vibrant culture of remembrance while facing the challenge that the relevant sources, still available after significant losses in the past two centuries, are difficult to access.
This project addresses this problem and aims to provide content access to the historical archive and connect it with other collections, in order to initiate various levels of impact:
- Local historical projects, such as historical learning workshops in local schools and among local historians
- Collaborative projects within practical-oriented courses in the new BA degree program GKS between the Institute of History and the municipalities in the Erzgebirge
- Permanent preservation of the archival records of the STAE
Contact: Jessica Furche
Institution: Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science, Institute of History
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Ms. Bakker has been working for many years on the editorial board of the Journal of Reviews of Germanic Linguistics (ZRS) and would also like to complete her master's degree in linguistics soon. In this context, she participated in the annual conference of the Institute of German Language in the period from March 14 to March 16, 2023, in which numerous established scientists participate and engage in conversation with each other.
Ms. Bakker's goal was to further her education and to network with regard to her upcoming master's thesis, as well as to explore possible research collaborations and professional perspectives in this field.
Contact: Anna Bakker
Institution: Institute of German Studies and Media Cultures, Chair of German Linguistics and Language History
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
Ms. Nestler is pursuing a master's degree at the Institute of Communication Studies, where she also previously earned her bachelor's degree with a thesis in social media and artificial intelligence. As a result, she submitted her obtained results to ECREA, which took place in Aarhus (Denmark) in 2022. In this context, her paper was accepted via a so-called blind peer review process.
In this study, she investigates whether the Uncanny Valley Effect (UVE, Mori, 2012) applies to artificial influencers (such as Lil Miquela) and whether this is associated with avatar rejection. The research is motivated by non-human influencers who, for example, have more followers on Instagram than real influencers.
In her research, she was first able to prove that Lil Miquela is perceived as creepy, which confirms the EIS. However, this effect does not lead to rejection, but Lil Miquela is rated as trustworthy and likeable by respondents.
At the FOSTER-funded ECREA, she discussed these seemingly paradoxical results and their implications with other researchers to support further research.
Contact: Denise Nestler
Institution: Institute of Media and Communication
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
Engineering Sciences
The requested funding was used to finance participation in the conference at which the research report was presented.
In the course of participating in the conference, current research contributions can be presented and discussed. In addition, participation in a conference promotes exchange with other (young) scientists as a student and can make a valuable contribution to building your own network.
Link to the Conference: 23rd European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications
Contact: Sebastian Rode
Institution: Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Institute of Electrical Power Engineering
FOSTER Funding Line: STATA
The amount of available drinking water per capita is declining worldwide. It is becoming apparent that there is already insufficient drinking water in several regions, which is leading to conflicts in various regions.
The earth is also colloquially referred to as the blue planet. However, the water is mostly unevenly distributed or, as salt water, not drinkable. Because of this and the increasing demand for water, seawater desalination is on the rise worldwide. New plants are being built on almost all major coasts of industrialized countries that suffer from water shortages.
However, most plants are technically very complex and correspondingly expensive, and maintenance and repair are complex and cost-intensive. Therefore, their use is unrealistic for financially weak countries. Currently, commercial seawater desalination plants are almost exclusively operated using fossil fuels.
From this arose the motivation to develop a low-tech seawater desalination plant that produces medium-sized amounts of freshwater. Furthermore, this plant should be constructed as simple as possible, so that it can be repaired or maintained quickly and easily. Due to its modular design and robust technology, it should be affordable especially for financially weaker countries. The necessary energy is generated by solar collectors, so that an operation independent of fossil energy yields is guaranteed.
The FOSTER funding enables research in this field, which will eventually result in a pilot plant. Furthermore, the underlying work steps from conceptual design to construction of the plant enable the preparation of student theses and dissertations.
>> Project of the Call for FOSTER 2021 <<
Contact: Achim Schmid
Institution: Chair of Energy Process Engineering
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The funds applied for are used to purchase appropriate steel alloys, which are then to be subjected to a material test including their mode of operation. Such steels are well above the price of ordinary steel. The aim of the project is to obtain new research results, to put them in writing and to make them accessible to other researchers in order to generate new approaches or, in turn, new findings.
Contact: Robin Fränzel
Institution: Institute of Materials Science
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
© Zhongyuan Yu
© Zhongyuan Yu
© Zhongyuan Yu
© Zhongyuan Yu
© Zhongyuan Yu
For a wide range of simulation and visualisation applications, such as training and education, architectural planning and engineering, forensics, machine learning and robotics, the capture of accurate, high-fidelity 3D models of real-world environments is increasingly important. However, 3D data produced by capture methods commonly used today – LiDAR scanning and photogrammetry – is seldom directly usable in such real-time simulations. Noisy, incomplete and over-dense, the point cloud data produced by these methods must be significantly simplified, cleaned, repaired, segmented and triangulated before it can be used in interactive simulations. On a desktop computer, this process is prohibitively time-consuming.
The team of the applicant’s project explores the use of virtual reality to significantly accelerate the transformation of large, raw point cloud data into 3D models suitable for realtime visual simulation. Building on earlier work, in which the students solved the problem of rendering large point clouds efficiently and demonstrated the potential for virtual reality to accelerate the workflow, we will develop a virtual reality toolkit for immersive cleaning and filtering, labeling and segmenting, filling, shape-fitting and mesh triangulation of large point clouds.
The team thinks that they are the first to build and demonstrate the effectiveness of such a tool. In addition to publishing the results academically, they aim to release the software to the wider community.
Foster funds support two research assistants.
Link to the IXLAB
Contact: Zhongyuan Yu
Institution: Institute of Software and Multimedia Technology, Junior Professorship in Immersive Media
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition is a scientific competition dedicated to the advancement of synthetic biology, education, and interdisciplinary cooperation, in which teams of students ideate and implement a project to address issues of global and local relevance, while at the same time promoting science education and engaging with stakeholders and experts.
Our project will be based on the development of a wound dressing to improve the treatment of chronic non-healing wounds. Such wounds are a growing problem and affect millions of patients each year in Germany alone. Worse yet, chronic wounds are susceptible to bacterial infections and treatment relies heavily on long-term usage of antibiotics, exacerbating the problem of the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains, which has been declared by the WHO as a global health threat. We plan to produce bacteriophages to target bacteria and synthesize human growth factors using yeast cells as biofactories to enhance the healing of chronic wounds. The culmination of our project will be a bioreactive hydrogel for the administration of these therapeutics. We plan to simulate and model the interaction of these elements inside the hydrogel and their release using molecular dynamics and other mathematical approaches.
In harmony with the principles promoted by iGEM, our intent is also to educate and inform the general public about the misuse of antibiotics, the threats posed by antibiotic-resistant strains, the conditions and difficulties faced by patients with chronic wounds, as well as cutting-edge scientific solutions.
The project is an interdisciplinary project with the primary involvement of the following institutions: the Faculty of Computer Science, the Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering (CMCB), the Dresden University of Fine Arts (HfBK) and the Faculty of Biology.
FOSTER funding would be used to cover the cost of lab materials for the project.
See for further information about iGEM: https://tu-dresden.de/mn/biologie/mikro/allgemeine_mikrobiologie/studium/igem?set_language=en
Contact: Adrian Zimmermann
Institution: Faculty of Computer Science
FOSTER funding line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The central idea of the diploma thesis, to which the funded project contributed, is the investigation of an alternative processing technology for ultrasonic transducers. Specifically, it is the investigation of patterning single crystal PMN-PT with ultrashort pulse lasers instead of a wafer saw.
The project's funding was approved to attend two congresses. Attending both congresses in Venice (IUS) and Dresden (ISPA) was extremely informative and educational. In particular, they helped to place one's own research ideas and results in the domain. At IUS, the research ideas were presented at the Student Pitch Competition and won first place. At ISPA, contact was made with a company (Dyconex) that now wants to join the parent project as a project partner.
Contact: Tönnis Trittler and Dr. med. Moritz Herzog
Institution: Electrical engineering, mechatronics
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
The double conferenceAgEng-LAND.TECHNIK 2022 in Berlin is one of the most important events in the field of research and development of agricultural technology. The conference is jointly organized by the European Society of Agricultural Engineers (EurAgEng) and the Association of German Engineers (VDI) and offers exchange opportunities for all relevant areas of modern agricultural engineering.
By participating in the conference, students were given the opportunity to receive comprehensive training on current technical topics and to exchange ideas with experts on the problems of tomorrow. Participation in the conference during their studies also offered the opportunity to make contacts and expand their own network.
The requested funds cover the travel expenses for the participation of two students in the two-day event in Berlin in November 2022.
Contact: Julian Hagert, Justus Schlenker
Institution: Chair of Agricultural Systems Engineering
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
The requested funding will enable participation in the Space Generation Congress (SGC) and the 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Paris in September.
At the SGC, undergraduate and graduate students from interdisciplinary disciplines related to space work together to develop strategies in support of the United Nations Space Applications Program. Under this year's theme, "Space for All," Mr. Liegert contributed to professional discussions to strengthen diversity and inclusion in the space field with creative ideas and intensive international collaboration.
At the subsequent IAC, the largest gathering of all global space stakeholders with over 6000 participants, the elaborated strategy was validated and further elaborated with additional comments from space industry leaders. In addition, Mr. Liegert assisted in the presentation of a paper on an integrated test approach to radar-based Earth observation, in which he had helped to draft.
In addition to actively contributing to the global direction of spaceflight and interacting with other scientists from different nations and professional backgrounds, conference participation also supports the development of a professional network, which is especially valuable for graduate students.
Contact: Anton Lieger, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Martin Tajmar
Institution: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
The demand for milk alternatives is steadily increasing. Sales in 2020 were €536 million in Germany alone, almost double the 2018 figure [https://bit.ly/3cfLK5z]. Strong growth is also predicted for the coming years [https://bit.ly/3QNSlmM]. The most popular alternative is the oat drink (> 50% of sales), in the production of which the oat okara (= pomace) is the residual material. Despite its high protein (approx. 25%) and fibre content (approx. 50%), this is so far only used as animal feed and not processed in the food industry. However, especially in Asia, there are already numerous enzymatic, physical and chemical treatment processes for processing soy okra from tofu production and subsequently using it dried, fermented or untreated as a food ingredient. The project therefore aims to transfer selected processes to oat okara and thus enable this residual material to be utilised in the food industry. The funds applied for will be used to finance a student research group that will independently analyse the composition of oat okara from a manufacturer and then carry out enzymatic and physical treatments. The results will be presented by the researchers in a seminar of the Chair of Food Technology and at a national symposium.
Contact: Dr.-Ing. Carsten Nachtigall, PD Dr. Doris Jaros, Ramona Plebst
Institution: Chair of food engineering
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Alexander A. Zyla has been conducting successful research in the field of process engineering at TU Dresden for several years. In 2021, he participated in a competition and was awarded the 3rd place. His diploma thesis was based on a feasibility study for the practical implementation of his project on a Two-Phase Plasma Catalytic Reactor (ZPPK Reactor) for functionalizing liquids. He practically implemented this new process principle and experimentally confirmed his theory. The results of these experimental investigations were presented in his diploma thesis in 2022/2023.
In May 2023, the International Symposium on Plasma Chemistry (ISPC25) will take place in Kyoto, Japan. Sponsored by the FOSTER program, Mr. Zyla will participate in this symposium and present an abstract of his diploma thesis, as well as give a presentation to international experts.
Additionally, Alexander A. Zyla received an invitation to participate in the 43rd ak-adp Workshop, which will be held in Leipzig in April 2023. There, he will also present and discuss the results of his work in front of a professional audience.
FOSTER covered the incurred travel and accommodation expenses in this context.
Contact: Alexander A. Zyla
Institution: Working Group Mechanical Process Engineering
FOSTER funding line: Participation in student research competitions for TU Dresden | RESEARCHCHALLENGE PARTICIPATION
The "Art Science Studio" is an inter-university creative course offered by junior professors Theda Nilsson (HfBK Dresden) and Matthew McGinity (TUD Informatik). The studio brings together TU Dresden informatik students with theatre and art students from the Dresden Academy of Fine Art (HfBK) to develop artistic works using media technologies over the course of the summer semester.
This year the students have the honour of being selected to represent Germany at the15th edition of the Prague Quadriennal of Performance, Design and Space. Held in Prague once every four years, the Prague Quadrennial is the world's largest event in the field of scenography, theatre and performance art. As each country may send only one delegation, this represents a significant opportunity for the students and TU Dresden.
The students will develop and present an artistic work in the student competition. Students will work intensively from the beginning of the summer semester and then travel to Prague to install, present and perform their creation over eleven days, from June 7-18th. The work will also be presented in Dresden at the HfBK annual exhibition on 15. July 2023.
Contact: Matthew McGinity
Institution: Faculty of Computer Science
FOSTER funding line: Participation in student research competitions | RESEARCHCHALLENGE Participation
Groundwater is a secure resource for coping with the effects of climate change around the world. In Germany, it accounts for about 69% of the drinking water supply and contributes to surface water levels.
Ms. Gomez Ospina's project applies a convolutional neural network (CNN) to understand future trends in groundwater levels (GWL) caused by climate change in 505 wells in Lower Saxony, northern Germany. The changes are assessed in time periods of 30 years and from present time to the year 2100.
Most machine learning models are focused on improving performance. In this case, however, the main goal is to understand the physical variables that can affect the accuracy of the model and serve as a basis for exploring meaningful information that can be incorporated into the model. Projections are made over six climate models, and correlations of model performance with spatial and temporal features are calculated to examine external influences.
The groundwater level projections will allow estimation of relative changes under climate change scenarios and calculation of indicators to support water management. The goal is to raise awareness and consider a tool for adaptation to climate change. In this context, the results will be presented at a scientific conference and published in a scientific journal.
Contact: Mariana Gomez Ospina
Institution: Institute for Groundwater Management
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Mr. Petzold's project aims to design a satellite for the altitude range of 200 - 300 km. This should enable the production of higher quality earth observation images. After subsequent evaluation, the image and atmospheric data obtained can be used to gain both new research and economically relevant knowledge.
In addition to conventional satellite components (power subsystem, communication subsystem, propulsion, structure, etc.), the realization of this project requires research into several new key technologies: highly responsive attitude control to circumvent disturbances resulting from wind in the existing residual atmosphere and a kind of protective shield to protect the satellite from reactive particles in the atmosphere.
With the support of FOSTER, additional student assistants, especially from the fields of aerospace engineering, electrical engineering and materials science, will be employed. As a result, a functional prototype will be created, which will be tested in the vacuum chamber of the Aerospace Institute for position control and particle-particle interaction.
Further information can be found here.
Contact: Valentin Petzold
Institution: Institute of Aerospace Engineering
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Inside and outside of space travel, ever smaller electronics (e.g. Internet of Things (IOT), smart devices) require finer thermal control. One possibility for thermal control in space is the targeted energy-efficient regulation of heat flows by means of so-called "heat switches". For example, a phase change material (PCM) is used and its volume change during phase change either enables or prevents heat transport in a purely passive manner. In so-called "New Space" scenarios, more and more small electronic components are used and the minaturization of the systems plays a decisive role.
The focus of Ms. Siabato Hooper's project is to identify specific PCMs for this application based on the current state of the art and to evaluate their use. Based on this, the goal of the project is to design a miniaturized "heat switch" based on a PCM for concrete operating conditions. Miniaturization should lead to a significant improvement in space thermal management and at the same time to a material- and energy-efficient solution. At the same time, a long system lifetime should be enabled to maximize the uptime and limit the amount of space debris. The results of this research project will eventually be summarized and published in an open access publication.
Contact: Wendy Melissa Siabato Hooper
Institution: Chair of Space Systems
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Construction and environment
© Max Gustav Rudolph
© Max Gustav Rudolph
© Max Gustav Rudolph
© Max Gustav Rudolph
© Max Gustav Rudolph
© Max Gustav Rudolph
© Max Gustav Rudolph
© Max Gustav Rudolph
Nearly a quarter of humanity is partially dependent on karst aquifers for drinking water. These systems are characterized by pronounced inhomogeneity and complex hydraulic behavior. Despite their importance, karst systems are as yet not sufficiently understood, especially with regard to modeling approaches.
The project will apply innovative data-driven methods to investigate and map the hydraulic behavior of karst systems. The focus is on a new method of multivariate time series analysis, which is complemented by methods of machine learning. This way, an in-depth analysis of the system behavior and the usability of the modeling approach will be conducted.
The requested funds will be used to finance research stays with cooperation partners in Graz and Gothenburg. Furthermore, the results are to be presented at a specialist conference and published in a specialist journal.
Detailed information about the project: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/397516788
Link Master Thesis defense: Presentation Master Thesis Defense Max Gustav Rudolph
Poster of the research project
Contact: Max Gustav Rudolph
Institution: Institute of Groundwater Management
FOSTER funding line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Categorization of the obstacles with regard to their delay (own illustration)
The funding will support publications in the context of sustainable construction, enabling research and creation of fundamentals for future building. The focus will be on the publication of the final thesis on the impediments in the certification process of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). The DGNB system aims to ensure a holistic assessment of a building in terms of sustainability. At the same time, additional research sub-projects are being conducted and prepared for publication, which also address sustainable building and the innovative material carbon concrete.
Focuses of the envisioned publications:
- Impediments in the DGNB certification process
- Raw material shortage of the carbon concrete construction method
- LCA review of carbon concrete construction
The requested funds will support both the publication of the final thesis and the interdisciplinary research sub-projects between TU Dresden and RWTH Aachen University.
Contact: Jasmin Wuth
Institution: Chair of Sustainability Management and Environmental Accounting
FOSTER funding line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
In times of the corona pandemic, the funding of the license costs for MAXQDA is a necessary addition to existing PC pool licenses. Therefore, with the help of FOSTER, the MAXQDA software for qualitative-quantitative content analysis of existing literature/research, which is necessary for the scientific processing of theses, is financed. The theses deal with different topics and are integrated into ongoing projects:
- The master theses, which are integrated in the innovatION research project, deal with the sustainability assessment of desalination technologies, specifically with the economic sustainability dimension and its interfaces to other sustainability aspects.
Contact: Tobias Kaiser, Katharina Brune, Konrad Schadt, Tabea Rohr -
The master thesis, which is part of the project Chair of Sustainability and Textile Innovation, deals with sustainability aspects of slow fashion along the textile value chain. The project takes place in cooperation between the Chair of NBU and UNU-Flores.
Contact: Tamany Schmidt -
The master theses, which are part of the German Sustainability Code project, deal with the sustainability reporting of stock market-oriented companies on the topic of biodiversity.
Contact: Anne Ladusch, Mai Huong Duong -
The bachelor thesis (BaSe), which is integrated in the Collaborative Research Center SFB-TRR 280, deals with the topic "Sustainable Design in the Circular Economy" in the field of the construction industry. The aim is, among other things, to identify the state of research regarding the impacts of scarcity of the building materials sand and gravel on the downstream value chains in the construction industry and to derive concrete conceptual proposals for strategies for recycling.
Contact: Freya Hadwich, Franz Ludwig, Alexa Köhler, Schelomi Sophia Magnus, Julia Senninger, Annika Scholl, Alexander Schubert -
This master's thesis, which is part of research projects on the topic of circular economy thinking, deals with the sustainability aspects of packaging for medicines in the pharmaceutical industry. The aim is, among other things, to identify the state of research regarding the environmental impact of pharmaceutical packaging and to derive concrete sustainable solution strategies in the sense of circular economy to reduce the damaging effect or improve it.
Contact: Leonard Mayer -
The master thesis, which is integrated in research projects on sustainable building (e.g. SFB-TRR 280), deals with the topics of sustainable building and the influence of regulatory approaches, such as the EU taxonomy. The aim is to identify the state of research regarding the impact of the EU Taxonomy on the European construction industry and upstream value chains and to derive concrete examples of how construction actors are affected and change their strategies.
Contact: Franz Ludwig, Valerie Scheller -
The thesis will deal with the topic of supply risks in the construction industry; effects of the Urkaine war on airport infrastructure projects and their supply chains. One of the aims is to identify the state of research on supply risks in the construction industry, in particular civil engineering, from the perspective of construction materials, transport services and personnel across the entire value chain of specific large-scale projects.
Contact: Max Gleitsmann
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The thesis will deal with the topic aspects of sustainability and the consequences of climate change for the agricultural and food industry. This is in the sense of student research at the Professorship of NBU and UNU-Flores in the research project "KlimaKonform". The aim is to identify the state of research regarding the impacts of climate change on this sector as well as possibilities for adaptation and mitigation along the entire value chain.
Contact: Josseline Rauscher -
The thesis will deal with the topic of sustainability reporting and derived corporate strategies. Thus, Mr. Lahrkamp is involved in the research fields of decision models and environmental indicators in the context of student research at the Chair of NBU. In particular, there is a cooperation with the company Danzer Holding AG. The aim is, among other things, to determine the state of research as well as the current legal and voluntary guidelines and requirements for sustainability reporting and to review Danzer's existing reporting.
Contact: Vinzenz Paul Lahrkamp -
The final thesis will deal with the topic of sustainability aspects of food innovation through closed loop recycling. Thus i.S. student research at the Chair of NBU, Institute of Natural Products Engineering and UNU-Flores is involved in the research project "FERBLEND". The aim is, among other things, to identify the state of research regarding the impact of this food innovation in comparison to typical animal feed recycling over the entire value chain and other similar innovations in the food sector through closed-loop recycling.
Contact: Robert Schön -
The funded Master's thesis is to be seen as a continuation of the already successful research seminar. The thesis will deal with the topic of sustainability reporting and organisational change in the pharmaceutical industry. Thus, i.S. student research at the Chair of NBU is integrated into research projects on the topic of sustainable organisational development and sustainability reporting. The aim is, among other things, to identify the mutual influences and effects of organisational change on sustainability reporting in the pharmaceutical industry.
sustainability reporting in the pharmaceutical industry. With the help of FOSTER the software MAXQDA, which is necessary for the scientific MAXQDA software for the qualitative-quantitative content analysis of existing literature/research will be financed
Contact: Leonard Mayer
Institution: Chair of Business Administration, esp. Sustainability Mangament and Environmental Accounting
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Heterogeneity in fresh volcanic Basalt aquifer systems are similar to those in Karst aquifers. These systems are characterized by multiple types of co-existing permeable voids including flow contact voids, rock fractures, and lava tube (pseudo-karst) conduits. Despite the large amount of research into these systems, the interplay between these types of permeability is poorly understood which has implications for unpredicted aquifer contamination and salt water intrusion in coastal areas.
In the applicant’s master thesis, discrete continuum and equivalent porous media model approaches were applied to investigate the hydraulic system function of these pseudo-karst systems. This thesis was the first application of a discrete continuum model approach to a basalt aquifer system.
The requested funds will be used to finance further research into the suitability of this model approach and to facilitate cooperation with partners in Hawaii. The results are to be published in a specialist journal.
Contact: Dwight Ransbarger Baldwin
Institution: Institute for Groundwater
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
With the funding applied for, the applicant was able to publish her results from the project Design and Parametric Modeling of Pretensioned and Stiffened Membranes in the scientific journal “Buildings”.
Contact: Iuliia Lebedeva
Institution: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Chair of Timber Engineering and Construction Design
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
In Saxony, in the late 18th / early 19th century - characteristically in low and foothills valleys - extensively designed garden landscapes developed out of the open landscape. An idea-historical location of this phenomenon of the “beautified landscape” in the history of the garden has not yet been found.
Since around 1800 embellished valleys also emerged in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, different questions arise in comparison with Saxony: Can these developments be viewed as independent or did they influence each other?
In the student project, in the sense of basic research, findings are to be generated that can make important contributions to projects which are performed at the Chair of History of Landscape Architecture and Preservation of Garden Monuments and ultimately find their way into this. The central concern here is to prove the existence of further embellished valleys, as these have so far neither been known as a type nor adequately described in garden history. For this purpose, sources should be researched that provide information about the respective client, their motivation and sources of inspiration as well as specifically undertaken horticultural interventions and design phases. The collected basic material is to be evaluated afterwards within the research projects and introduced into the scientific discourse.
The funds applied for are used to finance student and academic assistants and to cover archiving and printing costs.
Link to Website: Research Project Embellished Landscapes
Contact: Jan Rosciszewksi, Anne Charlotte Henze
Institution: Chair of History of Landscape Architecture and Preservation of Garden Monuments
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The funding applied for was able to finance participation in the conference at which the applicant's master's thesis on the subject of Continuous Improvement with Maturity Models was presented.
In the course of participating in the conference, current research contributions can be presented and discussed. In addition, participation in a conference promotes the exchange with other (young) scientists even as a student and can make a valuable contribution to building up your own network.
Link to the Conference: Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS)
Contact: Mareike Pinnecke
Institution: Faculty of Business and Economics, Chair of Business Information Systems, esp. Information Management
FOSTER Funding Line: STATA
Fully automated vehicles are no longer controlled by humans. As a result, the vehicles have to take on the diverse tasks of human drivers. This also includes communication with the traffic environment. It is currently being discussed whether this should be done using so-called external human-machine interfaces (eHMIs). eHMIs are attached to the outside of the vehicle and send explicit messages to nearby road users. But which messages should the vehicle send exactly and from which perspective should this happen? Should the vehicle only inform you that it is stopping or also that it will continue? Should the messages be limited to informing themselves about their own status or should they instruct pedestrians directly?
The aim of the project is to pursue these research questions in a student psychological experiment, to present the results at an international conference and then to publish them internationally in English.
An experiment was already carried out by the applicant as part of the master's thesis. The results indicate that signals that communicate from the pedestrian's point of view can be understood the fastest and most safely. The resulting abstract was accepted as a conference contribution and an article for the conference proceedings was submitted.
The funds requested were used to finance participation in the International Conference on Intelligent Human Systems Integration.
Link to the conference: IHSI: International Conference on Intelligent Human Systems Integration
Contact person: Sebastian Ludwig Weiß
Institution: Institute of Transport Planning and Road Traffic, Chair of Traffic and Transportation Psychology
FOSTER Funding Line: STATA
Renewable raw materials are becoming more and more important in the course of the bioeconomy. Wood in particular has always played an important role in the development of mankind and has recently been experiencing a kind of renaissance.
Various chemical modifications can be applied to the native forest product in order to improve its properties.
Oriented cellulose frameworks can be obtained through the structure-preserving removal of the wood components lignin and hemicelluloses. In a subsequent pressing, high-strength composites can be formed, which open up areas of application that were previously reserved for metals.
In addition, with the acetylation of the wood, there is the possibility of increasing the resistance to biotic pests and moisture-induced deterioration. The sustainable creation of value from biomass is an essential part of dealing with the climate crisis and requires innovative ideas.
Investigations into the delignification and acetylation of wood are the subject of the applicant's thesis. The funds applied for serve to expand existing student research and are used to carry out additional experiments, generate data and use structure-clarifying methods.
The funding is intended to finance chemicals for carrying out additional tests. The experiments are to be carried out in the laboratories of the Institute for Plant and Wood Chemistry. All results expand the database of the diploma thesis and contribute to a more precise understanding of the interaction in the modification process.
Contact: Winfried Barth
Institution: Wood and Fibre Material Technology
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Business informatics is focused on the development and application of information systems. The challenge in developing the artefact is the balance between scientific rigour and practical relevance. This research project intends to implement and evaluate a maturity model (RM) for business online collaboration (BOC). This will support companies in the evaluation and further development of their BOC. By developing an MS Teams web application, the lack of practical approaches for managing BOC is addressed.
The basis is a theoretical RM, the implementation and evaluation of which is intended as a prototype. This prototype is to be developed and evaluated according to a scientifically rigorous procedure. The prototype should enable an automated assessment of the current situation and show the maturity level as well as the development path of the company on the basis of recorded user data and questionnaire elements, giving companies a tool for controlling BOC.
The central part of the project is the technical implementation with corresponding functionalities. From a research perspective, the development of appropriate models for prototype development and the following evaluation are the central elements for a subsequent publication. Accordingly, the prototype itself is to be seen as a means to the end of ensuring applicability and practical relevance.
>> Project of the Call for FOSTER 2021 <<
Contact: Erik Fischer, Thomas Richter
Institution: Chair of Business Information Systems, esp. Information Management
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
© Clara Blum
© Clara Blum
© Clara Blum
© Clara Blum
© Clara Blum
The university group “Sustainability Working Group Civil Engineering” was founded in spring 2021. It brings together students of civil engineering at the TU Dresden who want university teaching to focus more intensively on the various topics relating to “construction and the environment”.
The declared aim of the university group is to sensitize students to sustainability issues and to bring them closer to new content. For this purpose, day trips and themed get-togethers are organized in various working groups, as well as preparatory work for the various institutes of the faculty.
In order to make the addressed topics more understandable for the students and after a long time they can also be experienced again, the first multi-day excursion of the sustainability working group took place in October 2021.
The excursion with the main topics timber construction, hemp construction and circular construction led to Berlin. Here the participants should receive new food for thought and information. In addition to site inspections, lectures and a workshop were held for this purpose.
In the aftermath of the excursion, the participants were surveyed in order to pool their newly acquired knowledge. The results of this survey are the basis for answering the key questions in this report.
Contact: Clara Pauline Blum
Institution: Institute of Machine Elements and Machine Design, Chair of Industiral Design Engineering
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTFORUM@TUD
Groundwater is the most important source of drinking water in Germany. Around 61% of the drinking water obtained came from groundwater bodies in 2016 (UBA, 2020). Protecting the quality of this resource therefore requires monitoring and assessment of contaminated and potentially contaminated sites.
Mass transport modeling provides an important tool for this purpose. Three main approaches are available for modeling: empirical, analytical, and numerical models. While empirical and analytical models have low requirements for site data and human resources, they are often limited in their applicability. Numerical models, on the other hand, are suitable for solving all problems, but at the same time imply an enormous cost and effort.
The goal of this project is to develop models by a hybrid approach, which combines the simple handling of analytical models with the good applicability of numerical models. The work will be based on the Analytical Element Method (AEM), which can be used to solve a variety of groundwater flow problems. In combination with a numerical model part, this shall represent a reactive mass transport system with two mass fractions.
The work can potentially lead to a simplification of the assessment process of potentially contaminated groundwater sites.
The FOSTER funds will finance a research stay at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
Contact: Anton Köhler
Institution: Institute of Groundwater Management
FOSTER funding line: STATA
The requested funds were used to finance a participation in the 38th European Group for Organisational Studies (EGOS) conference. The invitation to the EGOS conference is based on the submission of a research paper, which Lena Riek wrote in first authorship together with Prof. Dr. Boukje Cnossen (Leuphana University) and Prof. Dr. Blagoy Blagoev (TU Dresden, Faculty of Economics, Chair of Business Administration esp. Organization). The paper is titled "The role of video-conferencing software in the communicative constitution of power in virtual teams" and is based on 14 months of digital-ethnographic research, which Lena Riek initially started as part of her bachelor thesis and continued beyond. The study addresses and problematizes the increasing use of videoconferencing in organizations during and after the Corona pandemic.
She presented and discussed these findings in front of approximately 50 international researchers in Sub-theme 06: Performing Creativity, Innovation, and Change: Communicating to Reconfigure the Organization.
Participating in the EGOS conference gave Lena Riek the opportunity to discuss her research results with top international researchers, to establish contacts in a significant research field, and to receive feedback for the further development of the paper.
Contact: Lena Riek, Prof. Dr. Blagoy Blagoev
Institution: Faculty of Economics
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
The Corona pandemic has permanently transformed the world of work. Today, home office is part of everyday working life for many companies and organisations. Spatially flexible working is made possible above all by information and communication technologies, not least video conferencing software. While managers often emphasise the higher flexibility and efficiency of online meetings, Lena Rieck's study problematises the increasing use of video conferencing software. Based on 14 months of field research, recorded meetings and interview data, her research highlights socio-technical dynamics that distort communication in online meetings, reinforce existing power structures and can lead to counterproductive outcomes over time. The results of the study have already been presented at 2 international conferences (EGOS & ICA) and on various research platforms. Based on the feedback received, Lena Rieck collected further data material (7 interviews, 22 audio recordings of meetings). In order to be able to process the material appropriately, however, it must be available in transcribed form. Transcribing this amount of data would exceed her own time and financial capacities. FOSTER therefore supports the research project in order to be able to continue it at a qualitatively high level.
Contact: Lena Rieck, Prof. Dr. Blagoy Blagoev
Institution: Faculty of Economics, Chair of Business Administration esp. Organisation
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The project deals with solute transport modelling in aquifers. This is an important tool for managing the quality of groundwater as a resource. The aim of the project was and is to develop new modelling methods. The focus is on the use of analytical models for modelling reactive solute transport. The basis for this is the Analytical Element Method (AEM), which has so far only been used for modelling groundwater flow. At the beginning of the research stay at the University of Waterloo, it was planned to use the AEM in conjunction with numerical transport modelling. Based on the findings of the stay, however, this objective was adapted. It could be shown that reactive transport can be implemented as a purely analytical model based on the AEM. This is an important finding that makes it possible to use the advantages of analytical modelling for mass transport problems as well, which was previously not possible in this form.
Contact: Anton Köhler, Dr. Prabhas Kumar Yadav
Institution: Institute for Groundwater Management
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award / STATA
Heat vulnerability analysis is already an important focus of research internationally.
research focus and in the USA, for example, there are already some case studies investigating heat vulnerability in cities. In Germany, there are already one or two projects dealing with this topic. However, the range of studies and investigations on this topic has been lacking up to now. The purpose of the application is to support financial resources that have arisen during the the Master's thesis. On the one hand, the transcription of
transcription of five interviews by "happyscribe". The reason for this is that the
The reason for this is that the time needed to transcribe interviews is very large. This time is lost for important analyses and the evaluation of the master's thesis. The platform
"happyscribe" takes over the transcription of audio files into text files for 0,20€ per minute of the audio file. For me, this is an enormous relief in the time management of the Master's thesis and would serve to maximise the flexibility of the research.
research. In addition, a 6-month licence for students of MAXQDA Pro Analytics will be applied for retroactively.
Contact: Uhlmann, Angela, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alexandra Weitkamp, Jasmin Uttner
Institution: Faculty of Environmental Sciences
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD |
STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The transformation of habitats due to climate change, overexploitation of soil, vegetation, and water leads to the loss of biodiversity at three different levels (ecosystem diversity, species diversity, genetic variability). Biodiversity is to be understood in this context as the foundation of the concept of sustainability, the loss of which entails risks of global magnitude. The preservation and protection of planetary resources are enshrined in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Innovation, the societal transfer of knowledge and values, as well as the participatory shaping of societal transformations, are becoming increasingly important areas of activity for higher education institutions. Through the education of future leaders, they contribute to the enlightenment and transformation of society, and can act as role models, thereby increasing awareness of biodiversity. Therefore, the role of universities in the preservation and protection of biodiversity should be given more prominence.
With the support of FOSTER, an article is being developed that will be published in the Special Issue "Biodiversity management at higher education institutions" in the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. As the first author, Ms. Yerokhin will conduct an interview study to explore the strategies pursued by German universities aiming at the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services and how they are implemented.
Contact: Stella-Maria Yerokhin
Institution: Faculty of Business and Economics, Chair of Business Administration, especially Environmental Management
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD|STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
As a member of the Digital Health research group at TU Dresden, Mr. Reinsch has been involved in numerous important projects and publications. This has fostered his ambitions and motivation to expand his academic network and engage in discussions with experienced scientific experts.
To this end, Mr. Reinsch will participate in the International Conference on Business Informatics and Information Systems in Paderborn from September 18th to September 21st, 2023. This conference provides him with the opportunity to enhance his expertise, present research findings to an academic audience, and receive feedback from experts. In this context, Mr. Reinsch will have the opportunity to present two contributions he co-authored at the conference and engage in discussions with renowned representatives in his research field.
Contact: Felix Reinsch
Institution: Faculty of Business and Economics, Research Group Digital Health
FOSTER funding line: Participation in conferences and congresses | STATA (Student Academic Travel Award)
At the Institute for Groundwater Management (IGW), a DFG large-scale equipment application for a noble gas mass spectrometer can be submitted in 2024. This will make it possible to determine the age of groundwater, which can make an important contribution to the sustainable management of groundwater resources. In Germany, this analysis is currently only available to users from other institutions at the University of Bremen (HELIS laboratory).
For the preparation of this project, the know-how for sample preparation is to be built up at the IGW together with HELIS in 2023. In this context, Mr. Lieder would like to reactivate and incorporate an older preparation apparatus handed over to the IGW by HELIS as part of his master's thesis. Subsequently, several comparative preparations are to be carried out in the IGW and HELIS laboratories with subsequent analysis on the mass spectrometer in Bremen.
In this context, FOSTER supports Mr. Lieder in financing the travel to Bremen, the consumables for the operation of the preparation apparatus as well as the participation in a symposium in Bayreuth, where the results of the master thesis will be presented.
Contact: Johannes Lieder
Institution: Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Groundwater Management
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Since the winter semester of 2021/22, TU Dresden students of architecture can take part in the ARCH4HEALTH Student Research Lab. It started on the topic of "Emergency Rooms" and was continued in the summer semester of 2022 on the topic of "Radiotherapy", in the winter semester of 2022/23 on "Orientation and Wayfinding Systems”, focusing on school buildings and in the summer semester of 2023 on the topic of “Psychotherapy Centers”.
In the ARCH4HEALTH Student Research Lab, students go through the entire research process while working on their own research projects. The aim of this FOSTER scheme was to make the results of the student research projects visible - on the one hand through the publication of an anthology and on the other hand through a poster session with invited guests.
The value of the scheme is noticeable through the exchange with the practice. The poster session with guests from practice was a valuable experience for the students. They were able to put their own research results into the broader context and received feedback on their research process and results. In addition, the teaching team was able to establish valuable contacts with actors in the healthcare sector in Dresden and Saxony, which could be used in the following semesters. Through these contacts, for example, a visit to a hospital was organized for the students and important opportunities for data collection arose for some students.
FOSTER sponsored the publication and poster session of the ARCH4HEALTH Student Research Lab results.
Contact: Kathrin Büter, Carolina Kolodziej und Anne-Sophie Schoß
Institution: Chair of Social and Health Care Buildings and Design
FOSTER funding line: Research-orientatet teaching | ENABLE2RESEARCH@TUD
In the course of his studies, Mr. Lieder developed a steadily evolving interest in the topics of groundwater management as well as isotope hydrology. He also completed a three-month voluntary internship in this field.
Due to his great enthusiasm for this field of research, Mr. Lieder decided to deepen his scientific career in this direction. In preparation for this, he will participate in the EGU General Assembly (23-28.03.2023) as well as the International Symposium on Isotope Hydrology (03.07.-07.07.2023). At both events, international scientists and experts will meet, discuss their research and ideas, and establish new contacts. In this context, Mr. Lieder would like to use the opportunity to network with numerous leading scientists and to gather ideas for his master's thesis and later doctorate.
Contact: Johannes Lieder
Institution: Institute of Groundwater Management
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award
Ms. Lohse and Ms. Nagl visited the conference "17th World Congress on Public Health" in Rome from 02.05.2023 to 06.05.2023. The goal of the conference trip, which was financed by FOSTER, was to expand the scientific network and to gather inspiration for the upcoming master's theses. As both of them have focused their studies on health economics and have already dealt with the challenges of public health in this context, the professional exchange was in the foreground in order to consider whether an academic career in this field is worth considering.
Contact: Eva Lohse, Jamina Nagl
Institution: Faculty of Business and Economics, School of Civil and Environmental Enginieering
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
Soils, as the largest active terrestrial carbon stock, could help address climate change. The mechanisms behind carbon storage and dynamics are not yet fully understood.
Pure spruce stands at risk from damaging events make up about a quarter of Germany's forest area. Silver fir is already used as a resilient alternative to spruce in forest conversion in many places. So far, little is known about their effect on soil carbon (SOC) stocks. Various studies suggest that the deep-rooted tree species has the potential to form large protected SOC stocks in deeper mineral soil layers. The project aims to explore this hypothesis and underlying but still incompletely understood mechanisms, and to serve as a basis for possible further investigations.
The aim of the OCTAFEE project is to investigate a possible tree species effect of Abies alba (Mill.) on soil carbon of forest sites compared to Picea abies ([L.] Karst.) within the framework of three individual final theses. These will shed light on different parts of the complex topic. In order to cope with the high effort of investigation, the laboratory analysis will be carried out as a joint work by Franziska Schenk, Eric Zeidler and Erik Nestler. The results obtained will ultimately serve to answer the respective research questions of their theses.
Contact: Franziska Schenk, Eric Zeidler and Erik Nestler
Institution: Department of Forest Sciences, Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) is an effective approach to improve groundwater availability in water scarce regions. Karst systems represent a particular challenge due to their highly pronounced hydraulic anisotropy as well as heterogeneity. Theoretically, MAR techniques can be applied to karst systems to store and recover water or to increase subsurface inflow into the alluvial system from the adjacent upland karst system.
As part of his master's thesis, Mr. Genzel intends to use a stochatic modeling approach to represent karst systems in their complex natural and spatial distribution. In this context, he uses the funds provided by FOSTER for research stays in Neuchâtel and Graz to enter into a dialogue with experts in the field and to establish the framework for the suitability of the stochastic modeling approach. In addition, a presentation of the results at a conference (EGU Vienna) and a publication in a journal are planned.
Contact: Marcus Genzel
Institution: Institute of Groundwater Management
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Chatbots are digital assistants and offer an interactive way to reach and educate many people. In doing so, they represent an efficient platform for interaction with users that is both time and location independent.
In his diploma thesis, Franz Jendroßek investigates how chatbots can increase the willingness to donate organs by using praising and/or thanking persuasion strategies. Furthermore, it will be investigated how the use of certain graphics and images influences the willingness to apply for an organ donor card.
For a meaningful result, the different persuasion strategies of the chatbot should be processed by as many different test persons as possible. With the funds provided by FOSTER, the aim of the thesis is to acquire test persons in order to test and validate a chatbot for organ donation education.
Contact: Franz Jendroßek
Institution: Chair of Business Information Systems, esp. Intelligent Systems and Services
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Collaboration between and within companies has evolved significantly in recent years. As a result of advancing digitalization and driven by pandemic circumstances, companies have had to change the way they do intra-organizational online collaboration (IOC).
A paper written by Christoph Baumann and his partners aims to achieve practical validation by identifying current challenges in practice and relating them to best practice approaches in order to translate these insights into a learning environment. The paper therefore describes the development of a virtual collaborative learning (VCL) case study for higher education. To evaluate the VCL case study design, experts in higher education e-learning as well as positions from small and medium-sized German companies were interviewed. Suggestions for improving the VCL case study were implemented.
The paper written by Christoph Baumann and his partners was presented to the scientific public at the INTED23 conference, which took place in Valencia, Spain, from 06 to 08 March 2023. FOSTER supported Mr. Baumann in particular with regard to conference participation as well as travel and accommodation costs.
Contact: Christoph Baumann, Kurt Herzig und Samuel Reeb
Institution: Faculty of Business and Economics
FOSTER funding line: Student-oganized events bout student research at TU Dresden
In his diploma thesis Christoph Baumann wants to deal with the current topic of "Generative AI" as well as the associated AI prompting. In this context, the interface of interaction between humans and generative AI, such as ChatGPT, Bing-Ai or Midjourney/DaIIE is considered. This interface is the communication from human to AI to convey to the AI what requirement or task to solve with the help of a text input field. This process refers to what is known as prompting. The funds provided by FOSTER support Mr. Baumann in this context with the acquisition of the programs GPT4 engine as well as MAXQDA, in order to carry out investigations in the context of his diploma thesis.
Contact: Christoph Baumann
Institution: Chair of Business Information Systems, esp. Information Management
FOSTER funding line: Student research at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Climate change has a wide range of impacts on humans and nature. The effects on ecosystems and their functionality cannot yet be predicted with sufficient certainty due to their high complexity.
Forests are of particular importance in this context, as they can absorb large quantities of atmospheric carbon and retain it over the long term. However, due to the increasing droughts caused by climate change, the mitigating effect of forests is endangered. Since drought stress can lead to reduced growth and ultimately higher mortality, trees absorb less CO2 or even emit it.
Ms. Christ's project will simulate the plasticity of hydraulic conductivity under varying environmental conditions. Hydraulic conductivity is an important component of the hydraulic system of trees and is itself also influenced by environmental conditions. To investigate this interplay in more detail, an existing single tree model will be adapted. There, hydraulic conductivity will no longer be viewed as rigid, but as a dynamic state that changes with environmental conditions and the growth of the individual. The goal is to gain a better understanding of ontogeny and adaptation strategies of trees to water-limited conditions.
The funding from FOSTER will enable the work on this topic via funding for a FHK-position as well as a conference participation.
Further information can be found here.
Contact: Jennifer Christ
Institution: Chair of Forest Biometrics and Systems Analysis
FOSTER funding line: Student research at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Rajendra Gyawali decided to write a master's thesis on Assessing The Potential Of Agroforestry For Climate Change Adaptation based on many years of experience working with the rural population of Nepal that is vulnerable to climate change.
Although Nepal has a negligible contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions - less than 0.02% - it is one of the countries most affected by climate change because it is a mountainous country with a diverse geology and ecological vulnerability combined with a natural resource-based livelihood. The people who live in poor socio-economic conditions and whose livelihood is based on agriculture suffer the most from the adversities of climate change.
It is the aim of the master thesis to identify agroforestry practices as measures against climate change adversities and impacts experienced by farmers on the ground, considering a case of agroforestry practices in a rural community of Nepal. The results are discussed primarily in terms of the importance of different agroforestry systems in enhancing the adaptive capacity of local communities at risk from climate change to better inform decision makers, planners, and climate scientists to design and reform appropriate climate change adaptation policies and strategies at the community level.
Contact: Rajendra Gyawali
Institution: Institute of International Forestry and Forest Products, Chair of Tropical and International Forestry
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The increase in the number and intensity of extreme weather events is accompanied by serious impacts on the environment, the population and the economy. In order to address the impacts and further developments of the climate crisis, the UNFCCC (United Framework Convention on Climate Change) has set itself the goal of bringing together all relevant actors to develop and promote a cooperative, integrated and committed approach to the climate crisis.
Especially today's young generations will be confronted with the impacts of climate change in the future. For this reason, it seems imperative to also listen to young voices in the context of dealing with climate change and its impacts. For this reason, it was made possible for them to participate in the meeting of the UNFCCC COP 27 conference.
In this context, Binsar Liem Sihotang, supported by FOSTER funding, participated in the UNFCCC COP 27 in the period from 05/11 - to 17/11/2022. This took place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt and offered the opportunity to exchange with other scientific experts as well as to discuss the perspective of young people from all over the world in relation to climate change.
Contact: Binsar Liem Sihotang
Institution: Intitute of International Forestry and Forest Products, Chair of Tropical and International Forestry
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
With the help of FOSTER funding, Mehvish Majeed attended the International Course on Wood Anatomy & Tree-Ring Ecology in Klosters, Switzerland from December 11-16, 2022, at which he presented his research work Dendrochronological study on Pinus roxburghii growth resilience with changing climatic conditons in lesser Himalayas to an expert audience. His aim was to discuss his research results with other experts and to further develop his existing expertise in a series of lectures.
In his study, Mr. Majeed is concerned with reconstructing past climatic conditions and examining the effects on growth resilience of Pinus roxburghii in the Lesser Himalayan region of Pakistan at different altitudes on a temporal scale. The dendrochronological data obtained from the study will help scientists better understand the ecological roles of temperature, precipitation, and fire to enable better sustainable management practices and growth dynamics.
Contact: Mehvish Majeed
Institution: Intitute of International Forestry and Forest Products
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Bangladesh has a rich biodiversity, about 6000 plant species - many of them with medicinal properties. In Bangladesh, the use of medicinal plants in the medical system is a tradition and 80% of the rural population and tribal communities rely on medicinal plants for primary health care. Before 1990, medicinal plants were mainly grown in natural forests before commercial cultivation gained prominence.
Although cultivation of medicinal plants is profitable for farmers, they are still reluctant to prefer cultivation of medicinal plants over conventional crops.
This study by Pooja Debnath is based on the concept of value chain, value addition activities and market conditions of Aloe vera and Bombax ceiba, the major cultivated medicinal plants of the region. Both the structure of production costs and the impact of shocks (COVID-19 and price trends) are analyzed. The results of the FOSTER-supported study will help farmers to plan accordingly and provide starting points of the value chain model for further improvement of value chains.
Contact: Pooja Debnath
Institution: Chair of Tropical and International Forestry
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
There is already an understanding among the general public that microplastics in the world's oceans are a major problem, especially ecologically, and have a direct impact on humans (e.g. through food webs). However, microplastics are also already a widespread problem in soils, but have been little studied. This is where Ms. Seidel would like to start with her master's thesis.
With the help of the funds provided by FOSTER, Ms. Seidel will conduct research stays in Bayreuth and Cologne. These are an essential part of working in geography as a spatial science in order to get an independent picture of the environmental factors on site. The laboratories of the University of Bayreuth will be used in this context by Ms. Seidel, since they are project partners in the SFB 1357 Microplastics and have the necessary equipment, such as HEPA air filters, with which the samples are not contaminated with other microplastics. Before the stay in Bayreuth, the first inspection of the investigation area near Cologne will be carried out.
Contact: Pauline Seidel
Institution: Faculty of Environmental Sciences
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
As part of his diploma studies, Mr. Mischke conducted a final thesis on potential Green Lab certification approaches and the analysis of circular strategies in waste and plastics management at the DKMS laboratory. The aim of the case study was to identify reduction potentials and so-called hotspots of waste production in the laboratory process and to derive and prepare appropriate measures for reduction, avoidance, substitution. With the support of FOSTER, this work is now to be translated into a scientific publication in a relevant journal of the laboratory industry.
Contact: Moritz Mischke
Institution: Chair of Business Administration, esp. Sustainability Management and Environmental Accounting
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Medicine
© Andreas Franz
© Andreas Franz
© Andreas Franz
© Andreas Franz
The student research project focuses on the optimization of the training of future surgeons in robot-assisted execution of operations. It examines the development of the performance curve and the tissue handling in a real robot-assisted exercise after it was "practiced" in a virtual reality (VR) -based training in comparison to the previous exercise in a real robot -Training on the boxing trainer (dry lab).
The efficiency and quality of surgical training is usually measured in terms of time and number of mistakes in certain exercises. Tissue handling is an additional essential quality feature that should be specially trained, especially in robot-assisted surgery due to the lack of haptics there.
The research results are to be published as a publication. On this basis, the training of future surgeons for robot-assisted operations at the Dresden University Hospital is to be improved.
The material costs that are used in the course of the planned student research project are covered with the funds applied for.
Contact: Andreas Franz
Institution: University Hospital, Technical University Dresden, Department for Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The aim of the student research project is to investigate whether the surgeon's perception of stress differs fundamentally between laparoscopic, robot-assisted and open surgery. Both subjective (questionnaires) and objective (vital signs, biomarkers) variables will be recorded and evaluated to measure the stress perception.
Background:
An increased stress level in surgeons can have a negative impact on the operation and surgical skills and thus negatively affect the outcome of patients. This study is intended to provide the basis for intraoperative stress perception in relation to surgical procedures.
Own motivation:
Predominantly independent work under close supervision by clinically and scientifically experienced supervisors. Furthermore, the supervision and learning of realistic surgical activities in the modern experimental operating theatre using state-of-the-art surgical procedures.
Long-term results:
A publication is to be developed on the basis of the research. In addition, the research will be used as a basis for follow-up projects on the measurement of stress during surgery and stress-relevant effects on patient outcome.
Link to the website: Minimally Invasive Surgery Working Group
Contact: Jonas Kremer
Institution: Faculty of Medicine, Department for Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Kin recognition is an evolutionary survival mechanism that promotes prosocial behavior toward kin and reduces incest.
An important phenotypic trait that mediates Kin Recognition is body odor: parents and children can recognize each other by smell. This identification performance is associated with attachment quality, among other factors. Even strangers can match body odors of twins or mother-child dyads. This illustrates that odor profiles between relatives have perceptual similarities. Animal studies show that odor profiles of related animals also show chemical similarities. In humans, chemical similarity has only been studied in homozygous twins, but not between parent and child or heterozygous siblings. Also, the underlying mechanisms of olfactory kin recognition, i.e. the interplay between chemical markers and odor perception, are still unclear.
In her project, Ms. Hierl defines the goal to chemically analyze odor profiles within nuclear family structures for the first time and to consider them in the context of subjective perception. These findings will be used to better understand chemosensory communication as a basis for human bonding and, in the long term, to derive interventions to strengthen family relationships.
This project is part of the 2022 FOSTER solicitation. Further information can be found here.
Contact: Katharina Hierl
Institution: Faculty of Medicine
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Patients diagnosed with a pancreatic ductual carcinoma (PDAC) hav a 5-year overall survival of 7%. It is predicted that the PDAC will become the most common cause of cancer mortality by 2030. There are currently very limited treatment options for these patients as PDAC tumors are highly chemoresistant due to their characteristic desmoplasia of the microenvironment.
There is a huge unmet need to find better treatment options for patients with PDAC disease.
Mr. Thyen has already started working in the VTG lab by investigating the intercation between the tumor and its microenvironment in PDAC. Using tumor tissue derived from resected PDAC tumors and matched liquid biopsies, he sought to understand the role of a specific immune cell population, namely macrophages, in PDAC disease.
The FOSTER program supports Mr. Thyens work on the lab. It is his aim to finally collect enough data to publish a manuskricpt by winter 2023.
Contact: Julius Thyen
Institution: Human medicine, Visceral, thoracic and vascular surgery
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
With the NKLM 2.0 and the reform of the medical curriculum, the teaching of scientific skills in medical studies is moving further into the center of medical training in Germany. In this context, most medical faculties already offer courses in an optional framework and epidemiological as well as biometric basics are also firmly anchored in regular studies and examination procedures.
Within the framework of a cross-sectional study, the aim of Ms. Jahn and her fellow students is to survey competencies and expectations regarding scientific competence. For this purpose, the current situation among medical students in Germany at all 39 faculties will be surveyed, as well as the assessment of the curriculum and the already existing competencies. In doing so, the scientific skills in the medical faculty in Dresden will be recorded in a longitudinal study and the influences of the course on longitudinal scientific competence will be determined. The development of scientific skills in relation to the completion of a doctoral thesis or the ideas about the professional career will be surveyed.
Contact: Nadja Jahn, Max Vogt, Jean P. Bereuter, Enrik Geißler und Rona Geißler
Institution: Faculty of Medicine
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Gastric cancer is the fifth most common malignant tumor worldwide and the third leading cause of cancer-associated deaths. Based on found mutations gastric cancer was classified into four molecular subtypes. Alterations in the EGFR, WNT, TGFß, NOTCH and NFκB signaling pathways were identified as the main drivers of cancer progression. In addition, the Hippo signaling pathway has been identified as an important pathway. The pathway is deregulated in about 25% of all gastric cancer patients. It regulates developmental processes of healthy tissues, but is also involved in the tumorigenesis.
To investigate the role of the Hippo signaling pathway, a stomach-specific inducible mouse line was used. The line was combined in different models by inactivating the Hippo pathway and activating either the WNT, TGFß or EGFR pathway. The mouse models allowed the investigation of the gastric epithelium over the time course with respect to induced malignant changes. From these models, a gastric cancer organoid biobank was generated. With the help of the proposed project we want to investigate if the Hippo pathway could serve as potential treatment option for gastric cancer patients.
Further information can be found here.
Contact: Mark Enrik Geißler
Institution: Clinic for Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The prognosis for patients with liver tumors remains poor despite multimodal therapeutic approaches. The scientists led by Hanne Reinhart hope to gain a better understanding of why many therapies are ineffective by analyzing different immune mechanisms in tumor resected cells. In the long term, adapted therapies should increase the chances of a response.
The liver is the major site of synthesis of acute phase proteins, the expression of which is a negative prognostic factor and is associated with poor response to immunotherapy. To establish a clinical correlation, Ms. Reinhart's goal is to compare the results with serum levels of acute phase proteins (especially C-reactive protein).
The close cooperation with the surgical department enables her to examine human tumors and the corresponding blood of the patients. This requires a lot of time flexibility and a large amount of work. In order to be able to fully concentrate on my research, the funding provided by FOSTER will enable Ms. Reinhart to carry out the project as a SHK. She has structured her planned project in such a way that the results will serve a doctoral thesis, as well as a publication in a recognized journal.
Contact: Hanne Malin Reinhart
Institution: Faculty of Medicine
FOSTER funding line: Student research at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer mortality, primarily due to the occurrence of metastases mainly to the liver. Jean-Paul Bereuter began studying patients:with CRC after surgery to remove their liver metastases (CRC LM) and the potential for recurrence of liver metastases in October 2020 as part of his doctoral research.
Resection of the liver with CRC LM residing there causes stress-induced postoperative immunosuppression. As a result, cytokines are released to support wound healing. During this regenerative phase, cytokines and growth factors promote liver regeneration. Unfortunately, this may also promote the growth of minimal residual disease or micrometastases in the liver that were not removed during surgery. Culturing these PDOs in various media revealed significant changes in proliferation and response to specific agents without affecting normal liver PDOs.
The funding provided by FOSTER will assist Mr. Bereuter in completing his project and submitting his manuscript for publication in the journal CMGH (Cellular and molecular gastroenterology and hepatology).
Further information can be found here.
Contact: Jean-Paul Bereuter
Institution: Faculty of Medicine
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at the TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The subject of Ms. Schütze's research project is the creation and evaluation of a multidisciplinary pediatric surgery curriculum for the OPENPediatrics open access learning platform, which can be used free of charge worldwide, to improve the level of competence in medical education of students and specialists using online videos in a flipped classroom model.
Providing optimal care for children undergoing surgical procedures requires a multidisciplinary approach. However, traditional training often occurs within each specialty, and there are currently no videos or teaching tools that can be used to teach pediatric surgical treatments in a multidisciplinary manner. Therefore, this project will be the first to develop an online interprofessional video series to teach pediatric, anesthesia, and surgery trainees about common pediatric surgical treatments, depicting preoperative, operative, and postoperative conditions.
Ms. Schütze's research project is supported by Boston Children's Hospital and is at the invitation of Harvard Medical School.
Contact: Lisa Schütze
Institution: Dresden Neurovascular Center
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
Central/Scientific/Interdisciplinary Facilities
© Isa Hollopp
© Isa Hollopp
© Laura Christin Trautenberg
Food composition is instructive for the metabolic response of organisms. Recent studies have demonstrated an important role of dietary lipids in modulation of signaling pathways, and their contribution to physiological changes required to endure temperature stress.
Drosophila melanogaster is an ectotherm insect, permanently exposed to environmental temperature fluctuations without the ability of internal temperature regulation. In the wild, Drosophila feeds on decaying fruit and their associated microbial flora, often dominated by fermenting yeast.
Different dietary yeast lipids have shown to affect temperature resistance revealing the importance of food selection for ectotherms to survive in a temperature fluctuating environment.
The FOSTER funded project aims to identify yeast lipids that directly influence fruit flies’ fitness. With this work nutritional lipids will be positioned as important metabolic modulators that will contribute to the complex field of nutritional research.
Contact: Isa Hollopp
Institution: BIOTEC
FOSTER funding line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
https://tu-dresden.de/cmcb/biotec/forschungsgruppen/brankatschk
The 2019 TU Dresden iGEM team developed a fast, easy and in-field applicable paper-based DNA detection method using the CRISPR-Cas system (DipGene). The team designed a novel fusion protein, which converts a colourless substrate into a blue coloured readout if a DNA sequence of interest is present. Even though the basic steps in the development of this method were overcome during the iGEM competition, some optimization needs to be performed. Therefore, three former students of this team are designing different constructs that will lead to an optimized and more stable visual readout. In addition, they will characterize the limits of detection as well as the specificity of the method. Finally, the optimized methodology will be applied for the detection of the American Foulbrood disease (AFB) infecting honeybees. FOSTER will enable to cover the costs of purification of the target proteins since it is a very delicate process and requires advanced expertise and laboratory equipment.
Contact: Paula Santos Otte, Mara Müller, Sebastián Eguiguren
Institution: Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering (CMCB)
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
Mutagenic mechanisms are responsible for the accumulation of mutations in every cell. The sources of somatic mutations in healthy tissues and carcinogens can be derived from intrinsic mutagenesis, environmental exposure, mutator phenotype and cancer treatment itself. Understanding the genomic distribution of mutagenesis is fundamental to rationalise cancer development and tumour evolution.
The goal of this project is to use a deep learning approach to investigate how mutations accumulate in different genomic regions and how the mutagenic mechanisms leading to the tumour formation can relate with this accumulation. The datasets used in the project are whole genome sequencing data from the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas. Deep learning algorithms has been proven particularly suitable for this kind of genomic questions, since they are capable to build complex models, for incorporating diverse layers of information. The resulting models will be used for in silico experiments to interrogate the interaction of mutagenic mechanisms and the genomic specificity of mutations accumulation.
The results will allow us to understand how many mutations in a given genomic region, can accumulate, for example, patients treated with alkylating agents. Additionally, we can investigate intrinsic damaging agents like reactive oxygen species for instance, and how they can influence the mutagenesis in this given genomic region.
Foster funds support a research assistant as well as travel and accommodation expenses.
Link to the Biomedical Genomics group
Contact: Jessica do Amaral Andrade
Institution: BIOTEC - Biomedical Genomics
FOSTER Funding Line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Benjamin Wolba
© Logo StuFoExpo
The StuFoExpo is an annual exhibition on student research at TU Dresden and, as a lighthouse project, makes an important contribution to the visibility and appreciation of students as researchers. For this year's StuFoExpo, the experiences from the digital StuFoExpo 2020 will be incorporated and the digital event concept will be enhanced. Moreover, in the run-up to the event, discussions with students, lecturers and alumni will be sought in order to stimulate a university-wide dialogue on student research. In doing so, we strive to generate suggestions for the continued development of StuFoExpo, conceive new formats, and carry the enthusiasm for student research into the departments.
We also aim to maintain contact with previous participants in order to establish a network of former StuFo participants.
Contact: Fabian Köhler
Institution: Center for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching:
FOSTER funding line: STUDENTFORUM@TUD
As part of the work in the PASST? project at the Centre for Quality Analysis, Ms Dunkel conducted research as a student on the perception of university counselling from the student perspective. For this, she submitted a conference paper for an individual lecture at the Society for Empirical Educational Research (GEBF). The GEBF is a renowned association in the field of educational and higher education research. The contribution was accepted so that it can now be presented at the conference.
FOSTER finances the conference participation and thus enables the presentation of the individual contribution to an expert audience. In the course of the conference participation, current contributions from research can be experienced and discussed. In addition, participation in a conference as a student promotes exchange with other (young) researchers and can make a valuable contribution to building one's own network.
Link to digiGEBF: https://www.digigebf21.de/frontend/index.php
Contact: Pauline Dunkel
Institution: Centre for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching
FOSTER Funding Line: STATA
© Diana Zhilina
© Diana Zhilina
Specific brain regions such as the hippocampus in the adult mammalian brain possess adult neural stem/progenitor cells (ANSPCs), which give rise to new neurons and underlies structural and functional plasticity in the adult brain. Although the capability of ANSPCs in the mammalian brains is limited in the specific brain area and declines with age, other species possess ANSPCs in several brain regions and retain neurogenic capability longer.
The project aims to explore whether mechanisms underlying the long-term maintenance of ANSPCs are conserved or distinct among different species. We focus on LaminB1, a key component of the nuclear lamina, which has been identified as a critical epigenetic regulator for the long-term maintenance of ANSPCs. The nuclear lamina plays crucial roles in cell type-specific gene regulation, therefore we hypothesize that the distinct levels of lamins may underlie differences in neurogenic capabilities.
We will assess the expression patterns of lamin B1 in ANSPCs and their progenies among different species including primates, rodents, amphibians, and fishes, and correlate with their neurogenic capability in their adult brains. Understanding molecular mechanisms determining the limit of neurogenic capabilities among different species may bring a breakthrough to develop therapeutic means to regenerate damaged brains in the future.
Contact: Diana Zhilina
Institution: Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD)
FOSTER funding line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The provided FOSTER funds will go to covering fees and accommodation at the TERMIS-EU conference where Logan Poehlman will present his previous thesis project to the panel on Modeling, Imaging and other Enabling Technologies.
This project details how the phenotypes of immune cells can be predicted using cell morphology data within a machine learning framework. This is particularly useful in the case of macrophages which play a role in both the progression of inflammation but also its resolution. Image based approaches could therefore provide alternatives for more costly phenotyping methods and allow for novel approaches in predicting the immunogenicity of inflammatory cells.
TERMIS-EU is a european wide 4 day conference focused on advancements in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Topics covered range from cell biology, biomaterials, biofabrication, clinical applications and more. The conference also offers a number of networking and career focused events for young investigators.
More details about TERMIS-EU can be found under: https://eu2022.termis.org/
Contact: Logan Poehlman
Institution: Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering (CMCB)
FOSTER Funding Line: STATA
Salamanders such as axolotls and newts have extraordinary regenerative capacities. While in most vertebrate species regenerative capability declines with ageing, in these organisms it is maintained throughout the lifespan. Little is known about the physiological or molecular changes that accompany salamander ageing, however these animals exhibit strong resistance to age-related diseases and notably long lifespans. In this project, I intend to identify markers of molecular ageing for both axolotl and newts, in order to understand the physiological impact of time in these remarkable organisms, as well as enabling future studies on the connection between regeneration and ageing.
Recently, it has been demonstrated that the methylation level of genomic DNA is altered with ageing. By profiling many age-related methylation changes at specific genomic loci, it is possible to computationally build “epigenetic clocks”, able to predict chronological ageing with impressive accuracy across many mammalian species. At my host lab, I am currently contributing to the development of the first axolotl DNA methylation (DNAm) clock. However, tools for examining other salamander models of biological importance, such as newts, are still lacking.
In the proposed project, I will generate a multi-tissue dataset to build a newt DNA methylation clock. In addition, I will evaluate if telomere length and telomerase activity can act as age predictors in the axolotl, which is currently unknown. Together, these tools will allow further explorations on how age-related molecular signatures change with time in highly-regenerative species of limited signs of ageing, upon important physiological transitions (e.g. development, metamorphosis), and during regenerative process. This knowledge will help designing innovative strategies for age-related disorders prevention in mammals and especially in humans.
See for further information: https://www.theyunlab.com/
Contact: Yuliia Haluza
Institution: CRTD - Center for Regenerative Therapies TU Dresden
FOSTER funding line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The Student Research Exposition at TU Dresden - StuFoExpo - is taking place for the fifth time this year and has been funded by the FOSTER program since 2021.
In the context of a thesis, seminar paper or research project, all students have done own research at some point. A research paper or a bachelor thesis topic, which was incredibly exciting and provides potential for further analysis, is only read by the lecturers or supervisors and is not followed up. Consequently, the research results go unnoticed by students and disappear in the drawer or, nowadays, on the hard drive after their grading. And this is exactly what the StuFoExpo wants to change!
Through the event, student research will be made visible and the results will be accessible to a larger group of people. This way of honoring and appreciating student research promotes young scientists and thus contributes to an added value for science.
StuFoExpo 2022 offers students the opportunity to present their research projects. Participants present their projects, which have been assessed in advance by a jury, to the audience in the form of short video pitches and posters. Afterwards, there will be an exchange between the parties about the contents. For optimal preparation, there is also the possibility to participate in an upstream workshop in which students learn to present their research.
See for more information on this year's event: https://tud.link/yftl
Contact: Patricia Beuter, Anne Jaschan
Institution: Centre for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching (ZiLL)
Foster funding line: STUDENTFORUM@TUD
Regenerating organisms provide a scientific platform to study the principles of functional restoration of damaged or amputated tissues. Famous animal models include Axolotl - amphibians capable to regenerate virtually any lost body part. However, to understand biological principles reaching beyond a particular organism it is necessary to investigate regeneration across species. Moreover, the acquirement of complete insights into the reformation of organs requires scientific evaluation in biological contexts including the metabolic state. Whereas metabolic manipulation of Axolotl is still in its infancy, Drosophila represents an effective pioneering model.
The collaborative project between Brankatschk (BIOTEC) and Sandoval-Guzman (CRTD) labs integrates the biological strengths of both animals to study lipid-dependent metabolism. Already obtained results point out the instructive role of the liver in controlling the mobilization of lipids in regenerating organisms. Furthermore, the working idea depicts changes in the traffic of the insulin receptor in liver cells responsible for lipid-homeostasis diversions.
My aim is to investigate A.) how transport is organized in hepatocytes, and B.) to what extent insulin receptor mediated signaling controls hepatic lipid mobilization, and in consequence, modulates the capacity of stem cells in regenerating tissues. Finally, the FOSTER support will help me to present my data to dedicated international scientific audiences and aid the successful conclusion of my studies.
Contact: Maria Nieves Arredondo Lasso
Institution: BIOTEC - Biotechnology Center
Foster funding line: STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The requested funds financed the trip to the congress "Viszeralmedizin" in Hamburg, where the interdisciplinary project of Maximilian Greiner (Mechatronics) and Antonia Gillmeister (Medicine) was presented. After participating in an interdisciplinary Springschool in March 2022, the two students have established a joint project in the research group Patientenfunk. Patientenfunk won the tender for the Innovation Forum competition and the results of the students' subproject werde be presented at "Viszeralmedizin", the largest congress for gastroenterology and visceral surgery in German-speaking countries.
Contact: Maximilian Greiner, Antonia Gillmeister, Nora Martens
Institution: Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus (EKFZ)
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award | STATA
Within the scope of her masterthesis Sarah Deutscher investigated the possible impact of the New EU Forest Strategy for 2030 on the local level. The strategy emphasizes the multifunctionality of forests and proposes specific actions to improve their quality and quantity.
With the aid of FOSTER she would like to publish the results of the thesis as a paper in "Business Strategy and the Environment" to make a relevant contribution for decision makers in the forestry sector.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Remmer Sassen, Vera Braun, Sarah Deutscher
Institution: IHI Zittau
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
FOSTER funding would be used to cover the cost of lab materials for the upcoming International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition. iGEM is a scientific competition dedicated to the advancement of synthetic biology, education, and interdisciplinary cooperation, in which teams of students ideate and implement a project to address issues of global and local relevance, while at the same time promoting science education and engaging with stakeholders and experts. Our project will be based on the development of a wound dressing to improve the treatment of chronic non-healing wounds. Such wounds are a growing problem and affect millions of patients each year in Germany alone. Worse yet, chronic wounds are susceptible to bacterial infections and treatment relies heavily on long-term usage of antibiotics, exacerbating the problem of the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains, which has been declared by the WHO as a global health threat. We plan to produce bacteriophages to target bacteria and synthesize human growth factors using yeast cells as biofactories to enhance the healing of chronic wounds. The culmination of our project will be a bioreactive hydrogel for the administration of these therapeutics. We plan to simulate and model the interaction of these elements inside the hydrogel and their release using molecular dynamics and other mathematical approaches. In harmony with the principles promoted by iGEM, our intent is also to educate and inform the general public about the misuse of antibiotics, the threats posed by antibiotic-resistant strains, the conditions and difficulties faced by patients with chronic wounds, as well as cutting-edge scientific solutions.
Contact: Thorsten Mascher, Giogio Gilioli, Adrian Zimmermann
Institution: iGEM
Partners: CMCB, ZIH (HPC)
FOSTER funding line: Participation in student research competitions | RESEARCHCHALLENGE PARTICIPATION, Student research activities at the TUD | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The provided FOSTER funds will go to covering fees and accommodation at
the TERMIS-EU conference where Logan Poehlman will present his previous
thesis project to the panel on Modeling, Imaging and other Enabling
Technologies. This project details how the phenotypes of immune cells can be
predicted using cell morphology data within a machine learning framework.
This is particularly useful in the case of macrophages which play a role in both
the progression of inflammation but also its resolution. Image based
approaches could therefore provide alternatives for more costly phenotyping
methods and allow for novel approaches in predicting the immunogenicity of
inflammatory cells.
TERMIS-EU is a european wide 4 day conference focused on advancements
in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Topics covered range from
cell biology, biomaterials, biofabrication, clinical applications and more. The
conference also offers a number of networking and career focused events for
young investigators. More details can be found here.
Contact: Logan Poehlman
Institution: CMCB
FOSTER funding line: Student Academic Travel Award (Participation in
conferences and congresses) | STATA
The axolotl possesses an outstanding ability to regenerate virtually any part of the body. What usually escapes the public eye, is that the axolotl are also extreme lifespan outliers, living for up to 20+ years in captivity, with an unknown maximum lifespan. They rarely develop age-related disease and lack obvious signs of age-related decline.
As an organism ages, it is common to observe changes in the gene expression of specific biomarkers. By measuring and quantifying these changes, it is possible to gain an understanding of aging processes that organism. To explore how the axolotl ages, for my MSc thesis project I will perform bulk RNAseq and differential gene expression analysis on tissues of axolotl of many different ages, ranging from months to 20+ years.
The long-term vision of this project is to identify axolotl genes, that could explain why the axolotl appears not to age on different measurable scales. That knowledge could be used to understand what drives the process of aging, and what the possible therapeutic interventions are. Since the molecular hallmarks of aging are widely conserved across species, there is no reason to believe that means of slowing it down and improving healthy lifespan should not work on humans. This has the potential to significantly reduce the age-related suffering and pain in the world, and positively affect society.
Contact: Georgii Vdovin
Institution: CRTD - Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
The StuFoExpo - an annual exhibition of student research projects at TU Dresden, makes an important contribution to the visibility and appreciation of student research as a lighthouse project. The event can be developed as a flagship of the TU Dresden.
In scientific practice, the presentation and the accompanying preparation and presentation of one's own research project plays an important role. For this reason, students are given the opportunity to improve their skills in project presentation and/or science communication in advance by means of a professional workshop.
In order to successively increase the quality standards of the event and to further develop and enlarge the event format, the event will be evaluated continuously and the concept will be developed step by step with regard to the greatest possible orientation of the international StuFoExpo. Also, a thematic focus of the StuFoExpo will be strived for, e.g. by linking it to a science slam.
The goal of the event is to bring enthusiasm for student research into the faculties and to increase the initiative of students to do research through the possibility of presentation, feedback by a jury as well as a financial reward.
More information about this year's event can be found here.
Contact: Anne Jaschan, Natalie Fichte and Patricia Beuter
Institution: Center for interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching (ZiLL)
FOSTER funding line: Student-organized events about student research at TU Dresden | STUDENTFORUM@TUD
Although the human DNA sequence was revealed in 2003, it still presents a difficulty in assigning the functions of life to specific regions in the genome. The length of the human genome and the abstract nature of the genetic code make it difficult for humans to draw direct conclusions.
In his project, Mr. Hirsch analyzes syntax, grammar, and semantics of DNA learned from a computational language model and later uses these models to predict and understand DNA double-strand breaks.
Unsupervised language models are commonly used in natural language processing. They can learn language-specific syntax and grammar without any guidance by simply processing the raw data themselves. In doing so, they use the "attention" mechanism, which indicates which part of the DNA is information-rich to another part.
The long-term goal is to understand the organization of the genome and the DNA sequence-specific mechanisms of double-strand breaks. This could help to understand the causes and treatments of clinically relevant diseases that are often associated with DNA damage, such as cancer or aging.
Contact: Jonas Hirsch
Institution: Biotec - Biomedical Genomi
FOSTER funding line: Student research activities at TU Dresden | STUDENTRESEARCH@TUD
FOSTER is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Free State of Saxony as part of the federal and state excellence strategy.