Mahdieh Sarbazvatan

PhD.

Positions

PhD Candidate

Haskayne School of Business, Entrepreneurship and Innovation [ENTI]

Graduate Research Assistant

Haskayne School of Business, Entrepreneurship and Innovation [ENTI]

Sessional Instructor

Haskayne School of Business, Entrepreneurship and Innovation [ENTI]

Contact information

mahdieh.sarbazvatan@ucalgary.ca

Web presence

Location

Office: SH480 A-J

Background

Educational Background

Master's Degree Industrial Engineering , Iran university of Science & Technology, 2019

BSc. Engineering Physics , University of Tehran , 2017

Biography

Mahdieh is a Ph.D. candidate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, supervised by Mohammad Keyhani. Her research examines how Large Language Models and multi-agent AI systems can augment entrepreneurial and investment decision-making by mitigating cognitive biases, improving pitch evaluation, and supporting simulation-aided governance decisions.

Research

Areas of Research

AI-augmented decision-making; LLMs; Entrepreneurial pitch evaluation; Cognitive bias; Investment decision support; Multi-agent systems; Generative agent-based modeling

Courses

Course number	Course title	Semester
ENTI 407	Digital Entrepreneurship Technology	Spring 2025
ENTI 407	Digital Entrepreneurship Technology	Fall 2025
ENTI 317	Entrepreneurial Thinking	Winter 2026

Awards

Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES) - International , 2024
Bertram Scholarship, Canadian Foundation for Governance Research. 2024
Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES) - International , 2025
Haskayne PhD Research Excellence Award, University of Calgary. 2026

Publications

Journal articles

Green two-echelon closed and open location-routing problem: application of NSGA-II and MOGWO metaheuristic approaches. Ali Heidari, Din Mohammad Imani, Mohammad Khalilzadeh & Mahdieh Sarbazvatan . Environment, Development and Sustainability. (2022)
From Matchmakers to Innovation Machines: A Study of Market Generativity in the Bubble.io Ecosystem. . Mahdieh Sarbazvatan & Mohammad Keyhani. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. Under Review.. (2025)

Books and book chapters

Building Cloud Software Products- Managing Generative Products: Different Rules for Software Innovation. Mohammad Keyhani & Mahdieh Sarbazvatan . Springer Nature Link. (2025)

Conference proceedings

From Matchmakers to Innovation Machines: A Study of Market Generativity in the Bubble.io Ecosystem. Mahdieh Sarbazvatan and Mohammad Keyhani. Academy of Management Proceedings. (2024)
Geographic tradability and political ideology in crowdfunding. Rezaei, M., Keyhani, M., Jamshidi, Z., & Sarbazvatan, M.. 2023 annual conference of the Administrative Science Association of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (2023)
Enhancing Venture Capital Decision-Making: The Integration of Multi-Agent LLMs. Mahdieh Sarbazvatan, Mohammad Keyhani. Canadian Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (CCSBE)-Calgary, AB, Alberta, Nov2024. (2024)
AI-Augmented Entrepreneurial Pitch Evaluation. Mahdieh Sarbazvatan. Annual Conference of the Administrative Science Association of Canada (ASAC) . (2026)

More Information

Supervisor: Mohammad Keyhani