Dr Mehrdad Sarhadi is a Lecturer in Project Management at Teesside University and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He received his PhD in Project Management and Construction from Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, where his research examined stakeholder influence during feasibility and definition processes in large-scale industrial projects.

Before joining Teesside University, Dr Sarhadi held academic positions at Persian Gulf University and the University of Tehran, contributing to teaching and research in sustainable project management, organizational behaviour, and strategic decision-making.

His academic and professional journey bridges project management, philosophy, and ethics. He investigates how human values, paradoxes, and behavioural patterns shape sustainability and ethical practice in organizations. His interdisciplinary approach draws on philosophy, moral psychology, and social theory to deepen understanding of management beyond instrumental rationality.

Dr Sarhadi’s research explores the intersections between sustainability, ethics, and philosophy in project and organizational management. His interests include:

• Sustainable and ethical project management

• Paradoxes in management and organizational behaviour

• Moral psychology and ethical decision-making in projects

• Stakeholder engagement and communication systems

• Philosophical foundations of management and organizational meaning

Google Scholar

Current and Future Research Directions

Dr Sarhadi’s ongoing work examines the ethical and behavioural dimensions of sustainability in organizations, as well as the philosophical foundations of management and leadership. His future research aims to investigate the relation between AI and human agency, with a focus on how artificial intelligence transforms human roles, ethical reasoning, and existential experinces in management and project environments.

This emerging line of inquiry seeks to connect existential and phenomenological perspectives on human meaning with technological transformations in contemporary organizations.

Dr Sarhadi’s teaching philosophy emphasises reflective practice, critical inquiry, and experiential learning. He has designed and delivered modules in:

• Project and Programme Management

• Sustainable Project Development

• Strategic and Stakeholder Management

• Ethics and Leadership in Projects

• Research Methodology and Qualitative Analysis

He supervises postgraduate and doctoral research on sustainability, ethics, paradoxes, and the philosophical foundations of management, and has published extensively on project management education as well as ethical and sustainable management education.

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), UK

• Member, Iran’s National Elites Foundation (INEF)

• Member, Hamedan Construction Engineering Organization

• Reviewer for Project Management Journal, International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, and Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution