Arij Asad

Outreach

I am passionate about widening access to higher education and making mathematics more accessible to students from diverse educational, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Arij Asad working through mathematics with students around a table
Small-group mathematics teaching.

Outreach work

She Talks Science STEP Summer School

I was a Tutor in 2019–2022, Deputy Director in 2023–2024 and Director in 2025 of the residential STEP Summer School at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge. The programme supported young women and non-binary students considering mathematics at highly selective universities and gave them sustained experience of STEP-style problem solving.

In 2025, I led the four-day programme for 50 students, co-led the selection of 50 participants from 184 applicants, coordinated five tutors, three supervisors and three enrichment speakers, and taught inequalities classes and Cambridge-style supervisions.

A record of the programme from 2023 to 2025 is available in the summer school archive.

Cambridge summer school teaching

Between 2019 and 2022, I delivered classes, supervisions and activities across the Murray Edwards STEP Summer School, Sutton Trust Summer School and Intro to Maths at Uni.

University of Bristol outreach

My Widening Participation Tutor role at Bristol runs from July 2023 to October 2026. I have delivered university access sessions and research talks for pupils aged 11–18. Completed events include:

  • Insight into Bristol Summer School — July 2024, July 2025 and July 2026.
  • Next Step Bristol — November 2025.
  • Virtual Summer School — May 2025 and May 2026.
  • Sutton Trust Summer School — July 2024.

Introduction to Fluid Mechanics — Bristol summer-school talk slides (PDF, 2.3 MB).

These slides from my University of Bristol outreach talks introduce laminar and turbulent flow, Reynolds number and applications of fluid mechanics, including hydrogen accumulation in nuclear-waste storage.

Admissions talks and webinars

  • COMPOS interview-preparation webinar, through Blue Education — August 2026.
  • Dipont International Oxbridge admissions talk, Shanghai — July 2026.
  • Blue Education Oxbridge Interview Seminar — October 2025.
  • Mathematics Open Day, University of Cambridge — 2022.
  • Sutton Trust Experience Cambridge Day — 2020–2022.

Dipont International summer camp

I delivered 33 hours of small-group mathematics teaching and mock-interview preparation, with structured feedback, at a two-week Dipont International residential summer camp in Wuxi in July 2026.

UK Mathematics Trust

I vetted problems and marked solutions for the 2019 UK Mathematical Olympiad for Girls. See the published event report.

Teaching approach

I aim to combine high academic expectations with an environment in which students can discuss incomplete ideas, ask questions and take intellectual risks. Good outreach should offer both genuine mathematical challenge and practical information about the routes into higher education.

Free resources for students and teachers

My mathematics resource collection brings together past papers, textbook companions and worked topic guides. The teaching and practice sequences connect a short diagnostic with focused follow-up work and admissions-style problems.