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  1. Queen Mary University of London
  2. About us
  3. Sustainability
  4. Sustainable development goals
  5. Goal 4: Quality Education
  6. Research and Innovation

Research and Innovation

Embedding sustainability and ethics in mathematics education

Led by Dr Rehan Shah, this project embeds sustainability and ethics within large undergraduate applied-mathematics modules using real-world problems linked to the SDGs. Approximately 870 students benefit each year, with 328 feedback responses across two years. Around 70% of respondents reported positively on integrating sustainability and ethics into mathematics, while more than 85% achieved at least 8/10 in formative quizzes. Student co-creators also received Queen Mary SEED awards. The work has produced open educational resources and has been disseminated externally through educational conferences and guidance.

INCLIDES: inclusive education for sustainable development

The Inclusive Commonwealth Learning for Interdisciplinary Development and Education for Sustainability (INCLIDES) project brought together Queen Mary, UCL and Tata Institute of Social Sciences in India with support from the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

The project involved four student researchers and three academic staff, mapped curricula across three institutions and delivered three virtual staff-exchange workshops to 45 educators from STEM and SHAPE disciplines. It subsequently produced a short CPD course/toolkit supporting educators to embed inclusive pedagogy and Education for Sustainable Development. Approximately 180 educators across the Commonwealth accessing the open course. 

A Queen Mary student co-design workshop also generated inclusive ESD learning activities and reported a 50% increase in engagement after targeted scaffolding.

Centre for Excellence in AI in Education and applied AI literacy

Queen Mary’s Centre for Excellence in AI in Education was launched in 2024 to support the responsible and effective use of artificial intelligence across teaching and learning. Its approach focuses not only on using AI tools, but on building AI literacy so that students and staff understand how these technologies work, where their limitations lie, and how they can be used critically, ethically and transparently.

This institutional approach is already being applied to teaching. In postgraduate healthcare education, Queen Mary has introduced AI-focused sessions covering research design, dissertation development, critical appraisal, literature searching, evidence synthesis, academic writing and academic integrity. Students are taught to evaluate AI-generated content critically and to use AI as a supporting tool, rather than a replacement, for  professional judgement and scholarly practice.

Queen Mary Academy and Festival of Education

Queen Mary Academy (QMA) leads pedagogic research and scholarship across the University, supporting educators to test approaches including immersive learning, learner-engagement analytics, peer-led team learning and team-based learning.  

Delivered by QMA, the Festival of Education is Queen Mary’s flagship forum for educational scholarship, bringing together staff and students through workshops, presentations and interactive sessions focused on educational research, innovative teaching and inclusive learning. Across 2024/25 and 2025/26, more than 650 participants attended festival activities.

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