Student Research Exposition 2025
Fail Better: The Art of Failure in Research
Under the motto "Fail Better: The Art of Failure in Research", student contributions will once again be presented at the StuFoExpo for the eighth time.
This year, the event will take place on December 5, 2025 from 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in FOE/101.
You want to be there? Then apply now and present your own research!
- Application deadline: October 26, 2025
After last year's successful StuFoExpo, our exhibition for student research is entering its eighth round! The StuFoExpo 2025 will look different this year.
Under the motto "Fail Better - The Art of Failure in Research", we will celebrate an open, reflective and humorous event about the stories behind failed projects on December 5, 2025.
This time, the focus will be on a special perspective on research: failure.
What to do when a project goes differently than planned? When experiments go wrong, data leads to nowhere or the hypothesis is not confirmed?
It's simple: We talk about it.
And because we believe that failure teaches you more than any success story ever could.
We want to highlight failure and the reflection o fit as a productive part of academic work. We are creating a safe and supportive space where 10 till 12 students or student teams can openly share setbacks, mistakes, and sudden turns in their research – such as experimental failures, unexpected data, or unsuccessful approaches.
The aim is to promote the open and honest handling of mistakes in the research process and thus strengthen a (university) culture in which failure is not seen as a flaw, but as an essential part of knowledge and further development.
We are therefore looking for exciting contributions on failed seminar papers or theses, research projects or group work. Whether completed, abandoned or stuck - the decisive factor is the willingness to share insights.
Once again this year, a jury will select the best presented contributions and there is a chance to win prize money of 2 x €250.
The event will take place on a small scale. All students who want to share their project with us can bring two to three people with them as guests.
All students from all TU Dresden faculties can take part, regardless of whether they are Bachelor, Master or Diploma students. Group projects and English-language contributions are also expressly welcome.
You can choose between the following presentation formats:
- two-minute pitch followed by a poster session
- Science slam with audience discussion
Preparation workshop
In addition, all participants have the opportunity to take part in a preparatory workshop with stage and presentation trainer Sven Hönig. The workshop is designed to help you strengthen your presentation skills in the context of science communication and to teach you how to focus on failures in a presentation.
The two-day workshop will take place on October 7 and 9 from 9 am to 3 pm.
You can find more information about the workshop here: //tu-dresden.de/zill/foerdermoeglichkeiten/student-research-exposition/workshop-2025
Accessibility
If you have any special needs or requirements for your visit, please contact us directly when you register. We will do our best to make your participation as accessible as possible.
Where is the well-known StuFoExpo?
And for all those who are now wondering why there is no big StuFoExpo this time:
Keep your eyes and ears open from the winter semester!
We are already busy planning a big event in spring 2026.
Let us surprise you!
© StuFoExpo
Team Student Research Exposition (StuFoExpo)
Send encrypted email via the SecureMail portal (for TUD external users only).
All students who have done research where something did not go as planned in the project, e.g. in a thesis, seminar paper or other research project, can take part. This also includes group work.
Contributions are accepted from all subject areas, regardless of whether you are a Bachelor's, Master's, diploma or state examination student.
The same applies to students of the Faculty of Medicine, who may also submit and present failures in the writing of their doctoral thesis, provided it was written during their studies.
Students who are exmatriculated as of 01.10.2025 can also participate, provided they were still enrolled in the summer semester 2025.
Doctoral students are excluded from participation, with the exception that they began their doctoral studies on 01.10.2025 and were still enrolled in their previous degree program in the summer semester 2025.
Send your application to .
Apply now: Application form
The number of places is limited. When selecting applications, in addition to the quality of the abstracts, care is taken to ensure that the different Faculties are equally represented. In addition, the contributions will be selected according to the greatest possible variety of topics.
The StuFoExpo 2025 will take place in a language hybrid, as English-language contributions may also be submitted. English contributions will be presented in English and the poster session of the respective students and the audience discussion will also take place in English. For German-language contributions, the event language will be German.
If there are no English-language submissions, the event will be held entirely in German.
A jury will select the winners based on defined evaluation criteria. Participants will receive the evaluations and feedback after the event.
Yes, because Fail Better @ StuFoExpo deliberately focuses on failure - i.e. projects that did not go as planned, took unexpected turns or whose results, or part of them, did not meet expectations. It is precisely these experiences that we want to make visible and reflect on. It's not about perfection, but about talking openly about mistakes, detours and insights - because that's where we all learn the most.
Yes, absolutely. A project does not have to be fully completed to be presented at Fail Better @ StuFoExpo. Projects that have stalled, been canceled or never progressed beyond certain phases are particularly suitable. It is crucial that you are prepared to talk about challenges, mistakes or turning points - regardless of the project status.
Students who create a poster will receive a form with tips on design (poster design) at this point. For all other forms of presentation (pitch, science slam), there will be a workshop exclusively for StuFoExpo participants with the actor and trainer for stage presence Sven Hönig.
The workshop will take place on October 07 and 09, 2025 from 09:00 to 15:00.
You can find all information about the workshop here: https: //tu-dresden.de/zill/foerdermoeglichkeiten/student-research-exposition/workshop-2025
At Fail Better @ StuFoExpo, a pitch is a very short presentation of your research project. The pitch should spark curiosity about the research project so that the audience can talk to you in the second part of the event - the poster session. The pitch should contain the essential content of the research and should last 2 minutes.
You may use a presentation (slides, images, short video clips) for your pitch. Please note that the poster will only be presented after the presentation of the pitches in a separate poster session.
In a science slam, the results of your own research project are presented in an entertaining and creative way. For example, you can use PowerPoint, props or live experiments. At Fail Better @ StuFoExpo, the science slam may last 8 minutes. You will then be given 4 minutes to talk to the audience, which you will moderate yourself.
We strive to make our events and the workshop as accessible as possible. You are welcome to contact us as part of your application to let us know your needs or requirements.
Please send us an email to .
We will do our best to accommodate your needs and support your participation as much as possible.