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Zahra Shams Esfandabadi

Zahra is a post-doctoral research fellow in the field of sustainability transitions at the University of Turin, Italy. With concern about the environment and climate change, Zahra’s main research interests fall within the intersection of the digital economy, circular economy, and sharing economy, with a particular focus on the transportation and food sectors. In this vein, she studies product-service systems and sharing platforms and considers circular economy strategies to promote sustainable consumption initiatives. Zahra obtained an MSc in Industrial Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic) and a BSc in Insurance Management from the E.C.O. College of Insurance, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Iran. She holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, Italy. In her thesis titled “The Future of Carsharing: A System Dynamics Model”, she explored the diffusion of shared and electric vehicles from the standpoint of transitioning toward a sustainable transportation system. See her published research on Google Scholar. 

Honors and Awards​

  • [2022] “Best Young Paper” award in  MeRIT ( Megaprojects Research Multi-disciplinary Team) conference and workshop on “A multidisciplinary approach to embrace complexity and sustainability in Megaprojects”, organized by Politecnico di Milano and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy

  • [2022] “Premio Pubblicazioni di Elevata Qualità” (High Quality Publications Award); Awarded by  Associazione Georisorse e Ambiente (Georesources and Environment Association) and Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI) at Politecnico di Torino, Italy.  

  • [2022] “Outstanding Reviewer in the 2022 Emerald Literati Awards” in Emerald Publishing

  • [2018] Receiving a 3-year Ph.D. full scholarship from the Energy Center of Politecnico di Torino, starting from November 2018, and a pre-scholarship for September and October 2018 

  • [2010] Achieving a distinguished university degree (exceptional talent) at the MSc. Level

  • [2010] Ranked second among the students in the same program at university at the MSc. Level

  • [2008] Ranked third among students in the same program at university at the BSc. Level

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Selected Publications

  • Shams Esfandabadi, Z., Ravina, M., Diana, M., & Zanetti, M. C. (2020). Conceptualizing environmental effects of carsharing services: A system thinking approach. Science of The Total Environment, 745, 141169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141169

  • Shams Esfandabadi, Z., & Ranjbari, M. (2023). Exploring Carsharing Diffusion Challenges through Systems Thinking and Causal Loop Diagrams. Systems, 11(2), 93. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11020093

  • Shams Esfandabadi, Z., Diana, M., & Zanetti, M. C. (2022). Carsharing services in sustainable urban transport: An inclusive science map of the field. Journal of Cleaner Production, 357, 131981. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131981

  • Ranjbari, M., Shams Esfandabadi, Z., & Scagnelli, S. D. (2020). A big data approach to map the service quality of short-stay accommodation sharing. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32(8), 2575–2592. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-02-2020-0097

  • Shams Esfandabadi, Z., Ranjbari, M., & Scagnelli, S. D. (2022). The imbalance of food and biofuel markets amid Ukraine-Russia crisis: A systems thinking perspective. Biofuel Research Journal, 9(2), 1640–1647. https://doi.org/10.18331/BRJ2022.9.2.5

  • Ranjbari, M., Saidani, M., Shams Esfandabadi, Z., Peng, W., Lam, S. S., Aghbashlo, M., Quatraro, F., & Tabatabaei, M. (2021). Two decades of research on waste management in the circular economy: Insights from bibliometric, text mining, and content analyses. Journal of Cleaner Production, 314(June), 128009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128009

  • Ranjbari, M., Shams Esfandabadi, Z., Scagnelli, S. D., Siebers, P.-O., & Quatraro, F. (2021). Recovery agenda for sustainable development post COVID-19 at the country level: developing a fuzzy action priority surface. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 23(11), 16646–16673. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01372-6

  • Ranjbari, M., Shams Esfandabadi, Z., Zanetti, M. C., Scagnelli, S. D., Siebers, P.-O., Aghbashlo, M., Peng, W., Quatraro, F., & Tabatabaei, M. (2021). Three pillars of sustainability in the wake of COVID-19: A systematic review and future research agenda for sustainable development. Journal of Cleaner Production, 297, 126660. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126660

  • Shevchenko, T., Yannou, B., Saidani, M., Cluzel, F., Ranjbari, M., Esfandabadi, Z. S., Danko, Y., & Leroy, Y. (2022). Product-level circularity metrics based on the “Closing–Slowing Future–Past” quadrant model. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 34, 395–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2022.09.024

  • Urbinati, A., Shams Esfandabadi, Z., & Messeni Petruzzelli, A. (2023). Assessing the interplay between Open Innovation and Sustainability‐Oriented Innovation: A systematic literature review and a research agenda. Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12540

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