As organizations and governments navigate an increasingly uncertain world shaped by climate change, geopolitical instability and other disruptive events, effective long-term decisions become much more challenging. When groups come together to imagine possible futures, cognitive biases can influence how they interpret information, assess risks and develop scenarios.
Maryam Mahmoudi Mesineh, a PhD student in Management at the Telfer School of Management, is examining how these biases influence collective scenario planning and how they can be mitigated. Maryam aims to develop a better understanding of how cognitive biases shape collective foresight outcomes by leveraging natural language processing, a form of artificial intelligence that enables computers to analyze human language. Imagine a group of government officials developing scenarios about how AI might reshape Canada's labor market over the next 20 years. During their discussions, they might focus primarily on the economic opportunities associated with AI, such as increased productivity and economic growth, while paying less attention to potential challenges such as job displacement, widening inequalities, or the need for workforce retraining.
Her work could contribute to more inclusive and reliable approaches to long-term decision-making when organizations and governments face complex challenges.
This research has earned Maryam a prestigious Doctoral Canada Graduate Research Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), making her the first international student at Telfer to receive this scholarship.
For Maryam, who joined Telfer’s PhD in Management program in 2023 as an international student specializing in Strategy and Organization, this achievement is particularly meaningful. She initially had doubts about applying because of the highly competitive nature of the scholarship. She said “Receiving the scholarship was therefore beyond my initial expectations.”
Encouragement from her supervisors, Professor Daina Mazutis and Professor Jose-Carlos Marques and the Telfer community helped her build confidence and strengthen her application. She is especially grateful to Telfer PhD candidate Shirin Biglari, who shared her experience and provided feedback on Maryam’s proposal during a research office proposal workshop.
For Maryam, the experience has reinforced an important lesson: students should not decide in advance that a competitive opportunity is beyond their reach. She encourages other students, including international students, to pursue opportunities even when they may seem highly competitive, as it is easy to underestimate one’s chances before taking the opportunity to apply.
Her advice is to start early, seek feedback, use available resources and be prepared to revise. Most importantly, she encourages students to give themselves the opportunity to compete.
