Fourth-year engineering undergraduate student Ava Belafonte in collaboration with Dr Rehan Shah has published a jointly authored co-creation scholarship research journal paper that has been published in New Directions in the Teaching of Natural Sciences issue for 2026.

The practice-based research paper investigates the impact of diversifying STEM curricula through the development and implementation of student-staff co-created teaching toolkit resources within two of Dr Shah's first and second-year undergraduate applied mathematics modules at Queen Mary to create a more inclusive learning environment for students. Feedback gathered through dissemination of dedicated surveys featured responses from 113 first year and 196 second-year students from multiple engineering disciplines, with 55% and 65% of students strongly or mostly agreeing that the resources inspired them to want to learn more about the contributions of diverse individuals in STEM disciplines.

STEM disciplines have traditionally been taught as an exercise in memorisation and repetitive application of formulae, with historical aspects often confined to male, Eurocentric contributions of mathematicians, scientists, and engineers. Consequently, this can often alienate students from diverse and under-represented backgrounds, who find it difficult to find inspiring examples of positive role models whom they can relate to when studying STEM disciplines.

The insights gained from this implementation will inform future iterations of this staff-student co-creation project, featuring for example, the expanded use of this toolkit across additional modules and related disciplines as well as inclusion of formative practice quizzes to improve student engagement. Highlighting the contributions of historically underrepresented groups will promote diversity, foster belonging, and inspire future generations among STEM graduates.

Dr Shah was extremely proud of the hard work and efforts put in by Ava in taking the lead on working on this publication with him and hopes that this proves to be "an inspiration to other students working on similar co-creation projects to see the effects that sheer determination and industry can lead to". Ava is already getting ready to submit a second research paper on the next phase of the project in collaboration with Dr Shah and his collaborator from the Open University.