With this project, the HTWK Leipzig aims to enable three graduates of the university to work on doctoral topics within 36 months in areas that have the potential to sustainably expand the university’s research competence. In doing so, HTWK Leipzig will contribute to the individual development and utilisation of the potential of its graduates as well as to offer important solutions to pressing problems of science, business and administration in the region and thus making a valuable contribution to the structural development of the region. The topics are practical and are located in STEM and social fields: Civil engineering, energy technology and demographic change. The doctorates are carried out in cooperation with TU Dresden.