Dr Rehan Shah
BEng (UCL), MSc (Oxf), PhD (UCL), SFHEA, MIMA
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Mathematics and Engineering Education
Deputy Director and School Lead for CAISE
Academic Lead for PASS Scheme and Levelling Up: Maths for Engineering
School EDI Education Champion
QMUL Public Engagement Champion
QMUL Academic Representative for IMA and LMS
Engineering 229, Mile End
| Feedback/ support hours: |
Mondays 2pm-3pm (in-person) or Fridays 2pm-3pm (online) or arrange by email |
| Expertise: |
Applied mathematics (nonlinear dynamics, analytical mechanics and mathematical modelling); Mathematics and engineering education pedagogy (diversification of STEM curricula, mathematics threshold concepts and concept/skills inventories, embedding ethics and sustainability, community-based learning and teaching, AI usage in educational pedagogy, history of mathematics and physics) |
| Research Centre: | Research in Engineering and Materials Education |
| Affiliations: |
Advance HE - Senior Fellow (SFHEA) Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) - Member (MIMA), QMUL Academic Representative, Member of the IMA London Branch Committee, Research Committee and Early Career Mathematicians Committee, Reviewer for the IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics London Mathematical Society (LMS) - Member and QMUL Academic Representative British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics (BSRLM) - Member and part of HE Mathematics Education Working Group Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge (INI) - Member Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) - Member UK History for Diversity in Mathematics Network - Member and part of History for Diversity Repository Working Group Engineering Professors Council (EPC) - Institutional Member European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) - Institutional Member and Reviewer for the European Journal of Engineering Education (EJEE) Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE) - Institutional Member Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) - Institutional Member Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) - Institutional Member |
Brief Biography
Dr. Shah is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Mathematics and Engineering Education at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) with research interests in applied mathematics (nonlinear dynamics, analytical mechanics and mathematical modelling) as well as mathematics and engineering education pedagogy (diversification of STEM curricula, mathematics threshold concepts and concept/skills inventories, community-based learning and teaching, ethics and sustainability in mathematics, AI usage in educational pedagogy, history of mathematics and physics). He specialises in education research methods including systematic literature reviews, semi-structured interviews, surveys and focus groups design.
An accredited Senior Fellow (SFHEA) of Advance HE, he is also the Deputy Director and School Lead for the Centre for Academic Inclusion in Science and Engineering (CAISE) at QMUL, the School EDI Education Champion and the School's Academic Lead for both the Peer Assisted Study Support (PASS) Scheme and the Levelling Up Mathematics for Engineering programme. In addition to being awarded several internal and external funding grants, his work in these areas won the Best Innovative Poster Award (2024) and 3rd Prize for Best Poster (2026) at the QMUL Festival of Education, Best Poster Prize at the SEMS Industrial Liaison Forum in 2025 and has also been shortlisted twice for the QMUL Education Excellence Award in 2024 and 2025. He was also shortlisted (2025) and subsequently awarded (2026) the QMSU Sustainability Champion of the Year Education Award. His collaborative projects on EDI and sustainability, with faculty and university-level colleagues, have also been selected among the top 20 finalists for the global QS Reimagine Education Awards and been awarded the QMUL Education Excellence Award in 2025 respectively.
He has also been the Research Seminars Coordinator for the Centre for Research in Engineering and Materials Education (CREME). In addition to this, he also serves as a QMUL Public Engagement Champion and the current QMUL Academic Representative for both the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) and London Mathematics Society (LMS). He is also the QMUL Academic Lead for the Levelling Up Maths for Engineering programme, in addition to being a member of the IMA's London Branch Committee, Research Committee and the Early Career Mathematicians Committee.
He completed his PhD in Applied Mathematics (Nonlinear Dynamics) at University College London (UCL), where he also taught on a wide range of courses in mathematics, physics and engineering for which he received multiple UCL Teaching Excellence Awards. He is also currently a Guest Mathematics Teacher at the London School of Economics (LSE).
Prior to this, he taught GCSE and A-Level Mathematics as a full-time secondary school teacher at several independent schools across London. He also has an MSc in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing from the University of Oxford (St. Anne's College) and a BEng in Mechanical Engineering with Business Finance from UCL.
Teaching/Scholarship Research Awards:
2026, 3rd Prize for 'Best Poster Award', QMUL Festival of Education (for 'designing social enterprise education through AI-enabled student-community partnerships' project)
2026, Winner of 'Sustainability Champion of the Year' Students Union Education Award, QMUL
2026, Winner of 'People's Choice Award for Best Poster', London Student Sustainability Conference (for 'co-creating a Python toolkit to develop students' programming proficiency' project)
2025, Nominated for Education Excellence Award, QMUL (for 'embedding inclusivity, ethics and sustainability in mathematics education' project)
2025, Winner of Education Excellence Award , QMUL (part of team for 'sustainability in QMUL curriculum' project)
2025, Top 20 Global Finalist in 'Access, Diversity and Inclusion' category for international QS Reimagine Education Awards (part of QMUL CAISE team for 'breaking barriers in STEM' project)
2025, Shortlisted (top 3) for 'Sustainability Champion of the Year' Students Union Education Award, QMUL
2025, QMUL Public Engagement Champion (for successful university-community and public engagement partnership projects)
2025, Winner of 'Best Poster Award', QMUL Industrial Liaison Forum (for 'co-creating a Python toolkit to develop students' programming proficiency' project)
2024, Nominated for Education Excellence Award, QMUL (for 'embedding diversity and inclusivity in mathematics curricula' project)
2024, Winner of 'Best Innovative Poster Award', QMUL Festival of Education (for 'empowering students through design of inclusive STEM curricula' project)
2020, Winner of 'Best Student Engagement' Teaching Excellence Award, UCL
2019, Winner of 'Best Student Engagement' Teaching Excellence Award, UCL
An accredited Senior Fellow (SFHEA) of Advance HE, he is also the Deputy Director and School Lead for the Centre for Academic Inclusion in Science and Engineering (CAISE) at QMUL, the School EDI Education Champion and the School's Academic Lead for both the Peer Assisted Study Support (PASS) Scheme and the Levelling Up Mathematics for Engineering programme. In addition to being awarded several internal and external funding grants, his work in these areas won the Best Innovative Poster Award (2024) and 3rd Prize for Best Poster (2026) at the QMUL Festival of Education, Best Poster Prize at the SEMS Industrial Liaison Forum in 2025 and has also been shortlisted twice for the QMUL Education Excellence Award in 2024 and 2025. He was also shortlisted (2025) and subsequently awarded (2026) the QMSU Sustainability Champion of the Year Education Award. His collaborative projects on EDI and sustainability, with faculty and university-level colleagues, have also been selected among the top 20 finalists for the global QS Reimagine Education Awards and been awarded the QMUL Education Excellence Award in 2025 respectively.
He has also been the Research Seminars Coordinator for the Centre for Research in Engineering and Materials Education (CREME). In addition to this, he also serves as a QMUL Public Engagement Champion and the current QMUL Academic Representative for both the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) and London Mathematics Society (LMS). He is also the QMUL Academic Lead for the Levelling Up Maths for Engineering programme, in addition to being a member of the IMA's London Branch Committee, Research Committee and the Early Career Mathematicians Committee.
He completed his PhD in Applied Mathematics (Nonlinear Dynamics) at University College London (UCL), where he also taught on a wide range of courses in mathematics, physics and engineering for which he received multiple UCL Teaching Excellence Awards. He is also currently a Guest Mathematics Teacher at the London School of Economics (LSE).
Prior to this, he taught GCSE and A-Level Mathematics as a full-time secondary school teacher at several independent schools across London. He also has an MSc in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing from the University of Oxford (St. Anne's College) and a BEng in Mechanical Engineering with Business Finance from UCL.
Teaching/Scholarship Research Awards:
2026, 3rd Prize for 'Best Poster Award', QMUL Festival of Education (for 'designing social enterprise education through AI-enabled student-community partnerships' project)
2026, Winner of 'Sustainability Champion of the Year' Students Union Education Award, QMUL
2026, Winner of 'People's Choice Award for Best Poster', London Student Sustainability Conference (for 'co-creating a Python toolkit to develop students' programming proficiency' project)
2025, Nominated for Education Excellence Award, QMUL (for 'embedding inclusivity, ethics and sustainability in mathematics education' project)
2025, Winner of Education Excellence Award , QMUL (part of team for 'sustainability in QMUL curriculum' project)
2025, Top 20 Global Finalist in 'Access, Diversity and Inclusion' category for international QS Reimagine Education Awards (part of QMUL CAISE team for 'breaking barriers in STEM' project)
2025, Shortlisted (top 3) for 'Sustainability Champion of the Year' Students Union Education Award, QMUL
2025, QMUL Public Engagement Champion (for successful university-community and public engagement partnership projects)
2025, Winner of 'Best Poster Award', QMUL Industrial Liaison Forum (for 'co-creating a Python toolkit to develop students' programming proficiency' project)
2024, Nominated for Education Excellence Award, QMUL (for 'embedding diversity and inclusivity in mathematics curricula' project)
2024, Winner of 'Best Innovative Poster Award', QMUL Festival of Education (for 'empowering students through design of inclusive STEM curricula' project)
2020, Winner of 'Best Student Engagement' Teaching Excellence Award, UCL
2019, Winner of 'Best Student Engagement' Teaching Excellence Award, UCL