Depth over breadth
Each session stays with one olympiad theme until its central idea becomes clear and transferable. Themes include Fermat's little theorem, multiplicative orders, and projective geometry.
Training the Trainers · Est. 2024
Where the art of problem solving is taught to those who teach it.
A professional development academy for secondary school mathematics educators across the MENA region. We equip teachers with the strategies and pedagogical craft to nurture mathematical talent at the olympiad level while bringing the beauty of mathematics back into the classroom.
An academy for the educators of mathematical talent.
The Math Olympiad Trainer Academy is a comprehensive professional development program designed to enhance the skills of secondary school mathematics teachers in olympiad problem solving across the Middle East and North Africa.
Our work equips educators with effective strategies to foster deep mathematical understanding, nurture talent, engage students, and renew the attractiveness of mathematics through reasoning and discovery.
The Academy was developed with funding from SITE, which was part of the NYU Abu Dhabi Research Institute, and in academic partnership with MIMS, the Mediterranean Institute for the Mathematical Sciences. The inaugural year of the Math Olympiad Trainer Academy received additional support from the Office of the Provost at NYU Abu Dhabi.
Preparing the UAE's IMO team.
In summer 2025, the UAE Ministry of Education asked the team behind the Academy to prepare the UAE's International Mathematical Olympiad team and other advanced secondary school mathematicians. The 19-day camp brought together 17 students, combining residential training at NYU Abu Dhabi with online instruction. The Ministry's video below offers a look inside the camp, with students and instructors sharing their experience.
What guides us
Four commitments to the craft of teaching.
The Academy was built on a simple conviction: a single well prepared teacher reaches thousands of students across a career. Our pedagogy follows from that.
Theorem, example, method
We move from theorem to worked example, then name the hidden method. Once the method has a name, problems become cleaner, more systematic, and easier to teach.
Pedagogy as craft
Mathematical exposition develops alongside pedagogy. Every cycle gives teachers careful LaTeX notes and clear language they can use in class.
A network across MENA
A lasting working community connects teachers across the MENA region. Its members come from Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Egypt, Yemen, Qatar, and the UAE.
The Curriculum
Four pillars of olympiad mathematics.
Each academic year follows a coherent path through classical olympiad mathematics. Problems drive the work, and exposition makes each idea teachable.
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i.
Algebra الجبر
Algebra reveals the structure behind olympiad identities through inequalities, functional equations, and polynomials.
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ii.
Geometry الهندسة
Geometry builds disciplined reasoning through careful diagrams, transformations, and synthetic or projective methods.
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iii.
Number Theory نظرية الأعداد
Number theory connects modular arithmetic with multiplicative order, Diophantine equations, and the theorems of Fermat and Euler.
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iv.
Combinatorics التوافقيات
Combinatorics develops inventive counting through graph theory, extremal reasoning, and the pigeonhole principle.
The Academy Year · 2025 to 2026
The shape of an academic year.
A guest coach leads each cycle through one or two related areas of olympiad mathematics. Live online sessions come with full written notes, and participant presentations close the cycle.
Middle of September
The Academy year begins
Mathematical work begins immediately with the first online session led by a coach.
September to June
Approximately biweekly live sessions
Weekend sessions usually take place every two weeks in the late afternoon. The exact day reflects coach availability and time differences across participating MENA countries.
Between sessions
Notes, problems, classroom
Every live session comes with a complete LaTeX document and a problem set in the Academy's Google Classroom.
About four cycles
A bounded mathematical arc
A typical year contains approximately four cycles. Each cycle normally includes two to four sessions led by a coach, depending on the content and coach, followed by a separate teacher presentation session.
Cycle close
Teacher presentations
Each cycle closes with sessions led by participants. Teachers present a topic from the cycle to the cohort. They reason through proofs aloud, field questions, and bring the year's mathematics back to their own teaching voice.
Middle of June
The Academy year closes
The final cycle and its teacher presentations bring the recurring online program to a close around the middle of June.
Support and academic partnership
SITE funding and MIMS academic partnership.
The Academy was developed with funding from SITE, which was part of the NYU Abu Dhabi Research Institute, and in academic partnership with MIMS, the Mediterranean Institute for the Mathematical Sciences. The inaugural year of the Math Olympiad Trainer Academy received additional support from the Office of the Provost at NYU Abu Dhabi.
SITE
Stability, Instability and Turbulence, providing development funding through its position within the NYU Abu Dhabi Research Institute
MIMS
Mediterranean Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, the academic partner, with strategic liaison led by Dr. Sadok Kallel
Knowledge Hub
The Academy's mathematics, kept usable.
The Knowledge Hub preserves the Academy's teaching methods and participant exercises. Its historical material places that work within a longer mathematical tradition.
Methods Library
Twenty two methods, named and worked
Each card explains one method through a precise statement and worked example. A teaching note addresses the point where students often stumble.
Open the Atlas →Historical Profiles
Twelve scholars in mathematical context
Each mathematician in the Continuum has a sourced profile. Together, these pages provide the evidence behind the narrative history.
Read the profiles →Teaching Materials
The problems, cycle by cycle
Exercise sets from Cycles I through IV preserve the mathematical work of each session for future study and teaching.
Browse the problems →Teacher presentations
Teachers making methods their own
Every Year Two cycle closed with participant presentations. Teachers explained proofs and method choices in their own teaching voice while responding to questions from the cohort.
See the presentation record →IMO 2025 Training Camp
Preparing the region's strongest students
This record documents the training camp held before the 2025 International Mathematical Olympiad and the people who shaped its mathematical work.
Read about the camp →Year Two in figures
A year of sustained mathematical work.
Administrative records establish the scale and continuity of the completed Academy year from 2025 to 2026. Participant reflections trace how the mathematics moved from learning into teaching and further development.
4completed thematic cycles
13live sessions led by coaches
4teacher presentation sessions
17live sessions for participants
354recorded attendances
681hours of participation
Explore the evidence topography and anonymous teacher reflections →
For teachers who believe mathematics is taught best when it is lived.
Whether you are preparing students for national olympiads or simply want to teach mathematics with greater depth, the Academy is open to you.