diff --git a/preprocMd.sh b/preprocMd.sh
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/preprocMd.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+    # generate namelist of collaborators from topic file
+    original="topic-template.md"
+    filename="topic-output.md"
+    baseurl='https://www.mat.tuhh.de'
+
+    #make output copy
+    cp $original $filename
+
+    #replace working group
+    for wg in {aa,cm,dm,nm,st}
+    do
+        fullname=`wget -qO- $baseurl/forschung/$wg | grep h1 | sed -e "s/<h1>\s*\(.*\)<\/h1>.*$/\1/g" | sed -e 's/^[ \t]*//'`
+        sed -i "s;### Working Groups:\(.*\)$wg\(.*\);### Working Groups:\1\[$fullname\]($baseurl/forschung/$wg)\2;g" $filename 
+    done
+
+
+    namelist=`grep -h -i -m 1 -r "###\s*Collaborators (MAT):" $filename | sed -e 's/^###\s*Collaborators (MAT):\s*//I' -e 's/\s*,\s*/\n/g'  | sort -u`
+    for name in $namelist
+    do
+        # pipeline to get full name of staff-member from mat-homepage
+        # -> wget the staff homepage of $name
+        # -> grep the line with the <h1>-tag, something like <h1>Fabian Gabel, M. Sc.</h1><div class='staffIntro'><p><img src='/home/fgabel/images/portrait.png' title='Foto von Fabian Gabel, M. Sc.' class='staffPicture'></p><div class='staffContact'>
+        # -> strip the string such that only the portion between <h1></h1> remains
+        # -> remove leading spaces
+        fullname=`wget -qO- $baseurl/home/$name/?homepage_id=$name | grep h1 | sed -e "s/<h1>\s*\(.*\)<\/h1>.*$/\1/g" | sed -e 's/^[ \t]*//'`
+
+        # dirty replacement to avoid dealing with 
+        errstr='Binary file (standard input) matches'
+        if [ "$fullname" = "$errstr" ]; 
+        then
+            fullname=`echo "$name $fullname" | \
+             sed -e "s;jgrossmann $errstr;Dr. Julian Großmann;g" \
+                 -e  "s;fbuenger $errstr;Dr. Florian Bünger;g" \
+                 -e  "s;hvoss $errstr;Prof. Dr. Heinrich Voß;g" \
+                 -e  "s;fboesch $errstr;Dipl. Ing. Frank Bösch;g" \
+                 -e  "s;sgoetschel $errst;Dr. Sebastian Götschel;g"`
+        fi
+
+        # replace name in .md file
+        sed -i "s;$name;\[$fullname\]($baseurl/home/$name);g" $filename
+    done
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diff --git a/topic-template.md b/topic-template.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..263d21b7556eb93382d1e27f13fb6a4b684df196
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+++ b/topic-template.md
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+# The Title of our Impressive Reasearch Project
+
+### Working Groups: aa, cm, dm, nm, st
+
+### Collaborators (MAT): ataraz, cseifert, dclemens, dgallaun, druprecht, fboesch, fbuenger, fgabel, fhamann, hruan, hvoss, jangel, jdornemann, jfregin, jgrams, jgrossmann, jmeichsner, jpmzemke, jurizarna, kalbrecht, kklioba, kkruse, mjanssen, mlindner, mschulte, mwolkner, pbaasch, pgupta, rbeddig, rukena, sgoetschel, sleborne, sotten, tsaathoff, vgriem, vtrapp, wleinen, wmackens, ymogge
+
+### Collaborators (External): [Vaughan Jones](https://as.vanderbilt.edu/math/bio/?who=vaughan-jones), [Terry Tao](https://terrytao.wordpress.com/about/)
+
+## Description
+
+My topic is about Math and contains some nice inline formulas like $\int_0^1 \sin(x) \mathrm{d}x$ and also some displayed formulas like
+
+$$
+\int_0^1 \sin(x) \mathrm{d}x
+$$
+
+It also contains some nice pictures
+
+
+![Our Institute Logo](logo_header_mat_de.png)
+
+
+## References
+
+[1] Integrability Methods in Harmonic Galois Theory. F. Gabel, M. Chebyshev, Z. B. Hadamard and N. Deligne. Available at [https://thatsmathematics.com/mathgen/](https://thatsmathematics.com/mathgen/paper.php?nameType%5B1%5D=custom&customName%5B1%5D=F.+Gabel&nameType%5B2%5D=famous&nameType%5B3%5D=famous&nameType%5B4%5D=famous&seed=126904073&format=pdf
+)
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