Centre for Research in Engineering and Materials Education

News

Dr Rehan Shah invited to deliver research seminar at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford 9 April 2024 Dr Rehan Shah has been specially invited to deliver a research seminar to academic colleagues from the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (OCIAM) at his alma mater, the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford. The title of Dr Shah's seminar 'Static friction models, buckling and lift-off … [more]

SEMS undergraduate student awarded Vacation Scholarship with Cambridge 8 April 2024 Barbaros Zeren, a first-year undergraduate student under the supervision and mentorship of Dr Rehan Shah, has been selected to receive the QMUL-Cambridge Long Vacation Scholarship award. The scholarship provides an opportunity for eight students from across Queen Mary to attend Kings College Cambridge, and one student to attend St John&… [more]

British Council support joint wind energy research project with VIT Chennai 3 April 2024 The British Council has announced that they will support a joint masters educational-research project between Queen Mary and Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) in Chennai. The masters will research distributed wind energy for urban and rural requirements, integration and energy conversion. The project consortium also consists of Indian Institute of … [more]

Dr Rehan Shah publishes article for academic educators for the EPC’s newly launched sustainability toolkit 18 March 2024 Dr Rehan Shah has published a guidance article titled 'How can sustainability be integrated in engineering modules through mathematics content?' aimed at academics and educators at all levels in higher education who wish to integrate sustainability into mathematics-specific modules within the engineering curriculum. This forms part of a suite of … [more]

Postgraduate students present research at ILF March 2024 18 March 2024 Our MEng and MSc students presented their Research Projects at the Industrial Liaison Forum on 6th March 2024. Our MEng students conduct team projects in their fourth year in groups of four to six students. Currently towards the end of their projects, they were able to present a mix of prototypes, … [more]

Queen Mary scientists welcome new equipment in a major boost for materials analysis 11 March 2024 The Faculty of Science at Queen Mary University has acquired a new system allowing us to characterise advanced materials to a new level of detail. The installation of a new X-ray scattering system will enable teams from across the sciences to take these measurements in-house for the first time, instead … [more]

Dr Rehan Shah and team win 'Best Innovation' Poster Award at QMUL Festival of Education 8 March 2024 Dr Rehan Shah, along with second-year undergraduate SEMS student Ms Ava Dahlia Belafonte were awarded the 'Best Innovation Prize' for their poster showcasing their scholarship research work on 'Making diversity count: empowering students to make STEM curricula more inclusive' at the QMUL Festival of Education 2024. Colleagues and festival attendees were … [more]

Students from the Centre for Undergraduate Research present at the Posters in Parliament event 28 February 2024 Two highly talented undergraduate students engaged in research activities at the Queen Mary Centre of Undergraduate Research have presented their research findings at the prestigious Posters in Parliament event. This conference offers a platform for outstanding scholars in the UK to share their insights with a wider audience and highlights … [more]

Triple success with three SEMS student projects accepted for presentation at prestigious British Conference for Undergraduate Research 16 February 2024 Three SEMS undergraduate student research projects have been accepted for presentation at the prestigious UK-wide British Conference for Undergraduate Research, being hosted by the London School of Economics (LSE). The students who will be presenting at the conference are Barbaros Zeren and Yash Vaghela, both first year students supervised by … [more]

Dr Rehan Shah invited as keynote speaker to the University of Kent 24 January 2024 Dr Rehan Shah was specially invited to deliver a reflective teaching workshop on inclusive teaching to academic colleagues from the Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Kent. This was the second event in a series of workshops organised by the Student Success Central Team at … [more]

SEMS students' research paper accepted for presentation at undergraduate mathematics conference 23 January 2024 Two first year SEMS undergraduate students, Mr Barbaros Zeren and Mr Yash Vaghela, supervised by Dr Rehan Shah, have had their research project paper accepted for presentation at the Institute of Mathematics' (IMA) Tomorrow's Mathematicians Today (TMT) undergraduate mathematics conference, being hosted by the University of Greenwich. Their project, … [more]

Engineers Celebrate Athena Swan Success 18 January 2024 Gender equality recognised by Athena Swan Bronze Award First recognised in 2010, the School has now had this award conferred for another five years until 2029, where the conditions were met "directly and fully". The Athena Swan Charter works across the globe to support and transform gender equality in Higher … [more]

The Scotsman newspaper publishes cautiously optimistic view by Dr Avital and the Hyperlink student team, in its article on Hyperloop technology 10 January 2024 Following the closure of the startup Hyperloop One in December 2023, The Scotsman newspaper looked at the future possibility of using Hyperloop technology to connect Edinburgh with London. While the University of Edinburgh’s team expressed optimism, other UK academics expressed pessimism, pointing to the high cost of the technology. … [more]

Dr Rehan Shah awarded LMS grant for workshop on threshold concepts in undergraduate mathematics teaching 8 January 2024 Dr Rehan Shah has been awarded a Teaching and Learning in Higher Education grant by the London Mathematical Society (LMS) for organising a one-day workshop on identifying and recognising the implications of threshold concepts in the teaching of undergraduate mathematics. As part of this initiative, Dr Shah will organise an … [more]

Dr Rehan Shah attends AI Advancement Forum on Revolutionising Education at the Palace of Westminster, House of Lords 15 December 2023 Dr Rehan Shah was specially invited to attend the AI Advancement Forum on Revolutionising Education held at the Palace of Westminster, House of Lords. This was hosted by the University of Surrey for the launch of KEATH.ai (Key Evaluation and Assessment Tools Hub), an advanced AI technology tool that … [more]

SEMS Staff Recognised at the Annual Science and Engineering Faculty Celebration 13 December 2023 SEMS staff were recognised at the Annual Faculty of Science and Engineering Celebration on the 13th December 2023. Irene Prieto Reina was awarded the Professional Services Excellence Award. Wei Tan was awarded the Research Excellence Award. Sanaa Hafeez was awarded the Student Experience and Education Award. Paul Balcombe was awarded the … [more]

Shafique Ahmed and Haixue Yan Presented with the Pfeil Award by the IOM3 7 December 2023 Congratulations to Shafique Ahmed and Haixue Yan and their co-authors: Chunxiao Song, Jiyue Wu & Bo Li on their research paper, "Temperature dependence in ageing process in commercial zirconia dental ceramics" which has received the esteemed IOM3 Pfeil Awardfrom the IOM3. The research sheds light on the behaviour … [more]

SEMS Annual Awards Announced 6 December 2023 At the end of the staff meeting on the 6th December 2023, we hosted our annual SEMS prize celebration. We had a large number of nominations this year and the awards were spread across the entire SEMS community. The Team of the Year for 2023 was the Teaching Fellow / Teaching Associate Team … [more]

SEMS team recognised at QMUL Academic Promotions Event 21 November 2023 On 21st November QMUL hosted an event to celebrate the staff who have been promoted in the most recent academic promotion rounds. As we reported back in September, this was a very successful outcome for SEMS with 12 of our colleagues being promoted across all the different academic grades, reflecting the … [more]

Dr Rehan Shah awarded QMUL Centre for Public Engagement grant for project on university-community partnerships 8 November 2023 Dr Rehan Shah has been awarded a Community Engagement grant by the QMUL Centre for Public Engagement (CPE) for a project titled 'Locating communities in community-based learning: empowering local community groups in university-community partnerships' in collaboration with Dr. David Geiringer from the School of History at QMUL. As part of … [more]

SEMS Industrial Liaison Forum, November 2023 8 November 2023 We were pleased to once again hold the bi-annual Industrial Liaison Forum live in-person at Queen Mary University of London on 8th November 2023 in the People's Palace. The event was well attended by staff and students as well as industrialists. The day was broken up into five parts, starting … [more]

Collaboration with UCL results in publication in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids 19 October 2023 A collaboration led by Dr Rehan Shah in conjunction with UCL academic Prof Gert van der Heijden has resulted in a publication in the reputed Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids (JMPS) and is available as an open access paper on https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmps.2023.105464 In this … [more]

Dr Rehan Shah awarded ALDinHE education grant for collaborative project with UCL 9 October 2023 Dr Rehan Shah has been awarded an Education Research Grant by the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE) to work on a research project titled 'Promoting equity in education for sustainable development through community-based learning and teaching: A case study of two collaborating universities' with a team comprising … [more]

Dr Rehan Shah appointed as Co-Chair of the Ethics Ambassadors Committee for the Engineering Professors Council 19 September 2023 Dr Rehan Shah has been elected to serve as the Co-Chair of the Ethics Ambassadors Committee for the Engineering Professors Council (EPC). The purpose of the committee is to ensure that the Engineering Ethics Toolkit recently published by the EPC remains a high quality and dynamic resource that can feature … [more]

SEMS student wins QMUL SEED award for education research on Dr Rehan Shah's project, "Community-based placements in engineering education" 12 September 2023 QMUL School of Engineering and Materials Science PhD student Ms Sujitha Kunalan has been successful in securing the Student Enhanced Engagement and Development (SEED) Award from the Queen Mary Academy for her significant contributions as a student research assistant on the co-creational engineering education project titled “Community-based placements in … [more]

Sir Colin Humphreys appears on BBC Radio 4's "The Life Scientific" 29 August 2023 On Tuesday 29th August Professor Sir Colin Humphreys was Professor Jim Al-Khalili's guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme "The Life Scientific". Colin discussed his work as a materials scientist and engineer, his use of electron microscopy and of course about his work on graphene, the world's … [more]

Student team makes an impact at European Hyperloop Week 31 July 2023 A group of students from the Hyperlink London society, most of whom study Engineering and Materials Science programmes at Queen Mary, recently showcased their work at European Hyperloop Week. European Hyperloop Week is a yearly international event dedicated to the Hyperloop - a futuristic transportation concept which combines elements of … [more]

Dr Giuseppe Viola awarded the President and Principal’s Fund for Educational Excellence 25 July 2023 Dr Viola has been funded to further support our Undergraduate Research Project Activities through a new Queen Mary Centre for Undergraduate Research (QMCUR). This will be carried out in collaboration with a dedicated team of undergraduate students who will take on the role of "co-creators" under the supervision … [more]

Dr Rehan Shah awarded a follow-on renewal of collaborative Engineering Education Research Grant with UCL 7 July 2023 Dr Rehan Shah has been awarded a follow-on renewal collaborative Engineering Education Research Grant through UCL's Centre for Engineering Education to continue working on the cross-institutional interdisciplinary project on community-based placements in engineering education with a team comprising colleagues from UCL including academics from the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, … [more]

Celebrating the Inspiring Women Engineers at QMUL 23 June 2023 On International Women in Engineering Day on 23 June 2023, we celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of Women In Engineering worldwide, who tirelessly contribute to improving and saving lives. This year, we turn our attention to the exceptional female engineers at the School of Engineering and Materials Science. These women embody the qualities … [more]

Dr Rehan Shah awarded a fully funded place to attend the Engineering Professors Council (EPC) Academics Network Annual Congress 2023 5 June 2023 Dr Rehan Shah has been awarded 1 of 5 fully funded sponsored places for early career academics to attend the Engineering Professors Council (EPC) Academics Network Annual Congress taking place in Hereford, UK from 12-14 June 2023. Dr Shah will represent QMUL to attend this year's annual congress event focusing on 'New … [more]

Success in Faculty of Science and Engineering's BAME Undergraduate Research Internships 24 May 2023 The School of Engineering and Materials Science (SEMS) has been successful in securing a BAME undergraduate research studentship for a summer internship research project to be undertaken by first year BEng Mechanical Engineering student Mr Ismail Moalin, under the joint supervision of Dr Rehan Shah and Prof Henri Huijberts from … [more]

Collaboration with UCL results in a publication in the London Review of Education 17 May 2023 A collaboration led by Dr Rehan Shah in conjunction with UCL academic Dr Anne Preston has resulted in a publication in the London Review of Education, an open-access journal publishing rigorous, theoretically based research into contemporary education. Community-based learning and teaching in higher education, and other versions of it, such … [more]

Engineering the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) - the largest optical telescope in space 17 April 2023 In a seminar at Queen Mary, NASA’s Dr Raymond Ohl explained what makes the JWST’s architecture so unique. Dr Ohl has worked on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project at the Goddard Space Flight Center in various roles for about 20 years. He was invited by … [more]

Hyperlink team wins Bright Network award 9 March 2023 The Hyperlink student team wins the Innovation Award by Bright Network for their innovative solutions of developing a hyperloop transport technology. The student team is based at the School of Engineering and Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London and has student members from other schools as the School … [more]

Collaboration with UCL results in a publication in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids 4 February 2023 A collaboration led by Dr Rehan Shah in conjunction with UCL academic Prof Gert van der Heijden has resulted in a publication in the reputed Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids (JMPS) and is available as an open access paper on http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmps.2023.105224. In … [more]

Dr Rehan Shah awarded a collaborative Engineering Education Research Grant with UCL 30 January 2023 Dr Rehan Shah has been awarded a collaborative Engineering Education Research Grant through UCL's Centre for Engineering Education to work on a cross-institutional interdisciplinary project with a team comprising colleagues from UCL including academics from the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Institute of Education, UCL East and professional services staff … [more]

SEMS' Winter Graduation 6 January 2023 The winter graduation ceremony returned to the Great Hall on the Mile End campus once again 2023. The venue was filled with a cast of hundreds of SEMS graduates and their families and friends. The largest cohort was made up our MSc students from last year, but there was a good … [more]

SEMS hosts visit from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals 28 November 2022 SEMS hosted a visit from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) on Monday 28th November. They were lead by the Assistant Cultural Attaché from the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and by Professor AlKharoubi, KFUPM. The group were a total of 24 students and staff from … [more]

SEMS November Industrial Liaison Forum including PhD Research Showcase and and Student Awards 9 November 2022 We were pleased to once again hold the bi-annual Industrial Liaison Forum live in-person at Queen Mary University of London on 9th November 2022 in the Octagon. The event was well attended by staff and students as well as industrialists. The day was broken up into five parts, starting in the … [more]

November Prize-giving for SEMS' Taught Students 9 November 2022 At the Industrial Liaison Forum on 9th November 2022, we celebrated the achievements of some of our best taught students. Over 20 prizes were awarded by the School. These were awarded across subject and year groups and included "Academic Achievement Prizes as well as "Best Project Prizes". One "… [more]

Picture an Engineer 13 June 2022 When you see an engineer, what does the picture mean to you? International photographer Michael Cockerham and the Ideas Foundation created a digital storytelling workshop at Queen Mary's Festival of Communities to help engineers see each other's worlds. The creative & culture teams built a digital arts studio … [more]