Dr Rehan Shah, in collaboration with his undergraduate student researcher Mr Ilanthiraiyan Sivagnanamoorthy and external colleagues Dr Diarmaid Hyland (Maynooth University) and Dr Sinead Breen (Dublin City University), hosted a UK-wide, in-person workshop at Queen Mary University of London on Thursday 27 May 2025.

Titled 'Designing Proficiency-Oriented Assessment Inventories in Undergraduate Mathematics', the event was funded by an Interdisciplinary Collaboration Grant from the London Mathematical Society (LMS).

The one-day workshop featured two sessions. Dr Hyland and Dr Breen led a thought-provoking discussion on the theoretical foundations and development of concept inventories in mathematics. This was followed by a hands-on, interactive assessment design activity led by Dr Shah and Mr Sivagnanamoorthy, providing participants with practical experience in creating effective, concept-driven assessments.

The event brought together 25 academic staff and educators from across the UK, including participants from Queen Mary and a diverse range of universities. It was met with overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees, such as:

• “It was very insightful and informative—thank you for the invitation!”
• “I can already see myself thinking about these ideas in my tutoring sessions.”
• “Thank you for giving me the chance to participate in this unique opportunity!”

Insights from the workshop will feed directly into Dr Shah’s ongoing international project on developing a cross-national mathematical reasoning assessment inventory for applied mathematicians and engineers, in collaboration with Dr Alexandra Werth (Cornell University). The project’s outcomes will be shared with the broader academic community in its preparatory stages through both internal and external dissemination channels.