Dr Rehan Shah
BEng (UCL), MSc (Oxf), PhD (UCL), SFHEA, MIMA

 

Research Impact

Education Toolkit Resources and Projects

A summary of some of my scholarship research projects and impact can also be found on my profile published on Queen Mary Academy's website: QMA Educational Scholarship Research Profile. The full list of ongoing and past projects (including lists of funding sources) can be found on the Funding section of my website. 

The initiatives highlighted here showcase a series of outputs from various ongoing scholarship research projects within SEMS that focus on addressing prominent EDI issues as part of the Queen Mary Principles of Inclusive Curriculum as part of my role as Deputy Director and School Lead for the Faculty level Centre for Academic Inclusion in Science and Engineering (CAISE) and School EDI Education Champion, in addition to roles as QMUL Academic Lead for the Levelling Up Maths for Engineering programme, School Academic Coordinator for the Peer-Assisted Study Support scheme and QMUL Academic Representative for the Institute of Mathematics (IMA) and London Mathematical Society (LMS).

Project 1: Making diversity 'count': inclusivity in STEM curricula

The profiles of past and present diverse individuals provided below form part of an ongoing scholarship research project to diversify STEM curricula being undertaken by Dr Rehan Shah in SEMS. The project is also part of the wider faculty-wide EDI initiative through CAISE, whose work has also been documented in a Queen Mary Academy case study. These are designed to increase students’ awareness of diverse representation and provide positive role models through exposure to mathematicians, scientists, and engineers from under-represented backgrounds (such as female, disabled or LGBTQ+) and non-traditional pathways in academia and industry.

Poster Presentations for this project have also been disseminated at the QMUL Festival of Education (PDF)(won Best Innovation poster award), and as QMUL 's entry for the Posters in Parliament (PDF) event. The Queen Mary Academy case study documents the impact thus far, with Dr. Shah 's work also having been nominated twice for the QMUL Education Excellence Award in Oct 2025 and May 2024.

The work has also been presented at the CAISE Inclusive Scholarship Workshop (PDF), UK-wide History for Diversity in Mathematics Network Workshop (PDF) (and now features as part of the cross-institutional online shared toolkit repository) and the QMCUR QMUL Undergraduate Research Showcase (PDF), University of Westminster 's Student Engagement Conference 2025 (PDF) and at the UK Horizons in HE STEM Conference 2025 (PDF). This co-creation project has also resulted in a case study article (co-authored by student researcher Ms. Ava Belafonte and Dr. Rehan Shah) published in the New Directions in the Teaching and Learning of Natural Sciences journal. The

Dr Shah's work is also part of QMUL's faculty-wide education project “Breaking Barriers in STEM: Making Inclusion and Diversity Count” led by team members from the The Centre for Academic Inclusion in Science and Engineering (CAISE), which has been shortlisted for the Access, Diversity and Inclusion Award category at the QS Reimagine Education Awards 2025 (video pitch presentation available here)

Undergraduate student researchers: Ms. Amelia Stringfellow and Ms. Nilah Holmer (current students), Ms. Ava Belafonte and Ms. Allegra Celesia (former students, both of whom have received SEED Awards from Queen Mary Academy for their co-creation contributions).

Diversity Resources:

These resources have also been implemented as part of the former first-year and second-year skills modules EMS499 and EMS599 led by Dr. Tina Chowdhury.

Project 2: Embedding ethics and sustainability in mathematics modules

The mathematical toolkit resources provided below for academic educators are designed to raise ethical and sustainability awareness and imbibe transferable skills among undergraduate students in STEM disciplines as part of an ongoing scholarship research project undertaken by Dr Rehan Shah from QMUL with external collaborators, Dr. Maurice Chiodo and Mr. Dennis Mueller (University of Cambridge) from the Ethics in Mathematics project. The resources have been inspired by a comprehensive teaching booklet (PDF) featuring exercises, projects and handouts for embedding ethics in mathematics-based modules within STEM disciplines, which Dr. Shah helped co-design with external colleagues.

In addition to traditional mathematical content, the exercise questions in this toolkit also contain an ethical/sustainability component to each problem, and in order to solve the problem fully, students need to take into account these aspects and consider it as part of their solution. “Solutions” to as many of these exercises as possible have been provided in the toolkit for academic educators. These include both a full exposition of the mathematical component of the question, as well as a discussion and incorporation of these wider societal issues that are embedded in the question, which can serve as useful points for further discussion in the classroom.

The work has also been presented at the Enhancing Student Learning Through Innovative Scholarship Conference (PDF), Reflective Teaching Workshop Series at the University of Kent (PDF), the UCL Teaching in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Seminar (PDF), the Cauchy Club Seminar Series at the University of Bath (PDF), the Mathematics Teaching Cafe Seminar at the University of Edinburgh (PDF) and through a poster (PDF) and presentation (PDF) as QMUL 's entry for the London Student Sustainability Conference.

Dr. Shah has also been awarded QMSU Sustainability Champion of the Year Education Award in Apr 2026 (while also shortlisted among the top 3 for the  Oct 2025) and his work has also been featured in QMUL's recently developed non-credit bearing sustainability awareness module 'Foundations of Sustainability' (part of the QMUL STREAM project funded by the President and Principal Fund for Educational Excellence) which is an engaging interdisciplinary module for staff and students designed to serve as an introduction to the essentials of sustainability.

Undergraduate student researchers: Ms Malmi Mahagamage and Ms Meherun Soud (both of whom have received SEED Awards from Queen Mary Academy for their co-creation contributions). 

Sustainability resources:

The sustainability resources have been implemented in the first-year mathematics module EMS412 led by Dr Shah and within the former first-year skills module EMS499 led by Dr Tina Chowdhury.

Ethics resources:

The ethics resources have been implemented in the second-year mathematics module EMS506 led by Dr Shah and within the former second-year skills module EMS599 led by Dr Tina Chowdhury. 

Project 3: 'Squashing bugs not snakes': developing  students’ programming proficiency through co-creation of a Python toolkit   

In response to student feedback from previous runs of the first-year undergraduate mathematics module EMS412, Dr Rehan Shah in conjunction with three former students from his module, has co-created a Python Common Errors and Practice Questions toolkit guide to help new incoming first-year students, who need additional guidance and support with Python within their undergraduate mathematics modules, particularly those with no previous programming experience. The resources have also motivated the design of a bespoke toolkit for the Dr. Shah 's second-year mathematics module, EMS506 and a redeployed version of the same toolkit for Dr. Shah's taught postgraduate masters-level applied mathematics module, EMS726. 

Undergraduate student researchers: Ms. Amelia Chapman (current student, University of Edinburgh), Ms. Silvia Santafe, Mr Muhie Sultan Faisal Al Haimus, Mr Yash Vaghela and Mr Ilanthiraiyan Sivagnanamoorthy (former students, the latter three of whom have received SEED Awards from Queen Mary Academy for their co-creation contributions with Mr Ilanthiraiyan Sivagnanamoorthy receiving the annual SEED Prize for 2024-25). 

Python toolkit resources:

  • Python Common Errors toolkit serves as a supplementary resource for students to use alongside their existing Python tutorials on Jupyterhub and documents the standard errors that students most often make, along with ways to rectify these.
  • Practice Questions toolkit comprises a set of additional practice questions and Python exercises (with solutions) to give students a chance to hone and refine their basic programming skills.
  • Python Video Summary playlist containing a series of step-by-step guided video tutorials covering weekly content summarising the basics of Python programming.
  • Python Installation Video playlist going over the step-by-step installation of Python for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.
  • EMS506 Data Science Crib Sheet provides a quick overview of the core concepts needed to understand data science and machine learning including reference for libraries used in Python e.g. Matplotlib, Tensorflow, and Pandas.

The work has been presented at the QMCUR QMUL Undergraduate Research Showcase (PDF) the University of Westminster's Student Engagement Conference (PDF), through a poster (PDF) (won People's Choice Best Poster award) as QMUL's entry for the London Student Sustainability Conference and as poster (PDF) (won Best Poster award) at the QMUL SEMS Industrial Liaison Forum. The project has also featured as a conference proceedings paper publication in the UK and Ireland Engineering Education Research Network Annual Symposium Proceedings 2025 (PDF), with its range of outputs also feeding into a blog case study article for the QMUL Centre for Excellence in Artificial Intelligence in Education.

Project 4: Co-creating mathematics revision workbooks for assessment preparation

In response to student feedback asking for more practice questions to prepare for the final exam, Dr. Rehan Shah in conjunction with  five of his former students  of this course, has co-created Mathematics and Mechanics Revision Workbooks focusing on different sections of the first-year mathematics modules EMS412 and EMS418. These  revision guides contain a brief summary of each of the topics, followed by a comprehensive bank of solved example problems and practice questions (with answers) for students to work through to gain further confidence, as they prepare for their final exam assessments. Following the initial implementation, work is ongoing to expand the toolkit to feature similar material and questions for the remaining components of EMS412 and the follow-on first-year mathematics module EMS418. 

Undergraduate student researchers: Mr. Abul Hassan Mohammed Ibrahim, Mr. Ali Mahmood, Mr. Deehan Haque, Mr. Saeed Ahmed and Mr. Morshid Sarker 

Mathematics/mechanics revision workbooks:

Project 5: Levelling Up: Maths for Engineering 

An illustration of a woman working at a laptopLevelling Up: Maths for Engineering is an opportunity for Year 12 girls studying A-Level Mathematics (or equivalent), who intend to pursue an engineering-related degree at university (where A-Level Mathematics is a required subject). 

Through near-peer undergraduate tutoring and guest speakers, the programme seeks to inspire students and make them feel welcome, valued and included. From March through to December 2025 participating students received continuous support until the A-level examinations in Year 13.

We supported A-level maths students on our programme with tutorials that give maths concepts a practical engineering angle. For example - how vectors are used to build bridges, calculus in designing wind turbines, and probability to create safe transportation systems.

The primary goal is to help students improve their maths grades in the A-level examination from C to B, B to A, A to A*. Maths is the core entry requirement for STEM subjects at higher tariff universities. Our exceptional team of female engineering students, enrolled in a diverse range of engineering courses, will lead regular tutorials throughout the term. 

Undergraduate student tutors: Mr Ilanthiraiyan Sivagnanamoorthy, Mr Yash Vaghela, Ms Malmi Mahagamage, Ms Meherun Soud, Ms Sanaya Rajapakse and Ms Krishni Satchithananthan

One of our undergraduate tutors, Mr Ilanthiraiyan Sivagnanamoorthy, was also instrumental in co-developing samples of our new Levelling Up Mathematics for Engineering course materials (examples below). 

Sample course resources:

Academic Lead: Dr. Rehan Shah (Lecturer in Mathematics and Engineering Education, SEMS)

Outreach Lead:  Ms. Holly Barrett (Student Recruitment and Marketing Manager, SEMS)

Project 6: Peer-Assisted Study Support (PASS) 

PASSPeer Assisted Study Support is an accredited peer learning programme run for students by students across QMUL. In SEMS, it offers foundation and first-year undergraduates, and in some cases second-years, the chance to strengthen their understanding, build confidence and connect with others in their subject area. 

Through small group discussion, collaborative problem solving and guidance from trained higher-year students known as Mentors, PASS provides a relaxed and supportive space to learn. Mentors do not give you the answers but help you find them yourself, developing the study skills you need to succeed.

In SEMS, PASS runs weekly in-person sessions throughout the semester which are free to attend and designed to help you manage your time, prepare for assessments and learn the academic culture of your programme. Many attendees go on to become Mentors in their second year, with those engaging in more than 10 hours of work being recognised for their contributions through inclusion of this activity on their the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) transcripts.

Feedback from past mentees include:

"PASS has been an excellent opportunity to link my passion for helping others with improving my leadership and communication skills to boost my chances of employment down my career path."

– PASS Mentee 2025/26

“I really enjoyed so far!! I feel like the mentors have made it into much easier formats in a way that students will better digest complex information. I would love to become a PASS mentor after such positive experiences so far.” 

– PASS Mentee 2024/25

SEMS Academic Coordinator: Dr Rehan Shah (Lecturer in Mathematics and Engineering Education, SEMS)

SEMS Student Organiser: Mr. Omar Elarabi  (Third Year BEng Aerospace Engineering Student, SEMS)

SEMS Student Support Officer : Ms Angela Jones (Student Support Officer, SEMS)