I completed my PhD in the Fall 2023 at the Department of Political Science, McGill University. My fields of studies are International Relations and Comparative Politics. More specifically, I am interested in the IPE of trade, GVCs, and FDI with a particular focus on firms and development. 

My PhD thesis, Trading up for development: the effect of deep trade liberalization on global value chains (GVCs), empirically examines the effect of trade liberalization on developing countries' (and their firms') capacity to participate in global value chains (GVCs). This work was supported by SSHRC Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Doctoral Scholarship (direct application) and McGill University. I am also the winner of 2022 UNCTAD & the Academy of International Business Award for Best Research on Investment and Development for my work on Deep PTAs and trade in GVCs.

I also hold an MA in Globalization and International Development from the School of International Development and Global Studies (SIDGS), University of Ottawa, and an MA in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA), Carleton University, with specialization in global political economy (GPE). For my BA degree, I studied International Economics and specialized in International Economic Relations.

Currently, I am a Research Fellow at the Warwick Business School, working on supply chain analysis of firms, FDI, and climate. In summer 2023, I worked as a consultant with the Division on Investment and Enterprise, UNCTAD, Geneva, on issues related to FDI, climate, energy transition, and development. 

I am in the academic job market for 2025/2026 year.

If you were wondering, my first name (زرلشت) is pronounced exactly as written: [Zar--lasht], where [sh] is the usual sound as in [she].