Sanaz Kakavand
Positions
PhD Student
Haskayne School of Business, Business Technology Management [BTM]
Contact information
Background
Educational Background
MBA Allame Tabataba'i Univesity, 2019
Bachelor Software Engineering , K.N.Toosi University of Technology , 2016
Biography
Sanaz Kakavand is a PhD student in Business Technology Management at the University of Calgary, supervised by Dr. Raymond Patterson. Her research focuses on the economics of blockchain-based platforms, particularly the emerging field of Move-to-Earn (M2E) gaming models. She explores how blockchain-enabled financial incentives, asset ownership, and governance structures influence user motivation and engagement. Additionally, her work examines AI-driven fraud detection in cryptocurrency investment platforms, integrating machine learning models with third-party request data and website content analysis to enhance real-time fraud detection. Her broader research interests include decentralized platform governance, token-based incentive structures, and the behavioral economics of digital assets.
Research
Areas of Research
Exploring user engagement, motivation, and sustainability in blockchain-enabled platforms.
Investigating the impact of financial incentives, ownership structures, and psychological factors on user decision-making in tokenized economies.
Developing machine learning frameworks for detecting fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms using third-party request data and website content analysis.
Courses
| Course number | Course title | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| BTMA 333 | Enterprise Analysis | Winter 2024 |
| MGST 217 | Introduction to Business Analytics | Fall 2024 |
| BTMA 431 | Gathering, Wrangling, and Analyzing Data in R | Winter 2025 |
Awards
- Haskayne Founders' Circle Doctoral Scholarship , 2022
- Haskayne PhD Research Excellence Award, 2025
Publications
- Fraud Detection in Cryptocurrency Investment Websites. Gopal, R., Kakavand, S., Patterson, R., Nur Kutlu, S.,. Workshop on Information Systems and Economics (WISE). (2024)
More Information
Supervisor: Raymond Patterson
Are you the profile owner?
Login to edit.