Dr Rehan Shah has been selected and invited for the Isaac Newton Institute's (INI) academic mathematicians' retreat programme in Cambridge this summer from 28 June to 4 July 2026.

INI Retreats offer mathematical scientists a welcoming and conducive space for a week-long retreat to re-immerse themselves in research or make progress on a project away from their usual commitments. Researchers are based in INI’s bespoke building in Cambridge and provided with office space and accommodation in INI flats.

Dr Shah will use the retreat to work on his ongoing mathematics scholarship research project that is dedicated to understanding the need for the consideration of wider societal aspects within mathematics and to outlining some of the ways in which we can incorporate the teaching of ethics and sustainability within mathematics courses at university. The final output involves the compilation of a teaching resource toolkit, which will be published by Open Book Publishers, as an open-access book, containing a set of varied mathematical problems across different topics with key ethical and sustainability aspects embedded within them for use by lecturers and educators.

This groundbreaking book offers the first-ever comprehensive collection of resources for embedding ethics and sustainability into undergraduate mathematics education. Designed for use in first and second-year university courses in mathematics and related STEM fields, such as physics, engineering, computer science, and economics, it features a unique selection of exercises, homework problems, and project ideas that seamlessly integrate ethical and sustainable considerations into standard mathematical content. Rather than treating ethics and sustainability as an add-on, each problem is crafted so that students must engage with its ethical and sustainable dimensions as part of their mathematical reasoning. This dual focus helps cultivate not only technical proficiency, but also ethical awareness and critical thinking, which are key transferable skills for real-world sustainable problem-solving. In addition to problem sets, essay topics, and project ideas, the book includes an introduction to ethics in mathematics, ideas for a standalone lecture course on the topic, an exposition of embedded ethics, and connections to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. It will serve as both a teaching tool and a platform for sustainable innovation in curriculum design, promoting a more responsible and reflective approach to mathematics. As an open-access resource, it will enable educators to expand and adapt its content, encouraging collaboration and growth to pave the way for a more critically engaged undergraduate mathematics education.

This project is a collaboration between Dr Shah, Dr Maurice Chiodo (Assistant Research Professor in the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge) and Mr Dennis Mueller (Research Affiliate in the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge). This retreat will therefore allow him the perfect opportunity to not only re-immerse myself in completing the writing of this book (due by end of July 2026), but also allow him to organise in-person discussions with his Cambridge-based collaborators.