Dr Maryam Lotfi

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

Research interests:

- Modern slavery, child labour and workers’ rights in the supply chain (Sc)

- Human rights in the Sc

- Social sustainability in the Sc

- Gender-based issues in the Sc

- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the Sc

Funded projects:

• Main applicant and main investigator, 2024

    Funder: Digital Transformation Innovation Institute (DTII) 

    Project title: How does quality data play a pivotal role in enabling companies to uphold human rights standards and specifically modern slavery and mitigate the risks linked with poor practices?

• Main applicant and main investigator, 2023

Funder: Seedcorn fund of Global Collaboration, Cardiff Business School

Project Title: "Modern slavery risk management in the hospitality sector: a moral legitimacy approach on hotel groups disclosure and an institutional logics approach on accepting responsibility". This project is in collaboration with University of Queensland, Australia.

• Main applicant and main investigator, 2023-2024

Public Value Engagement Fellowship, Cardiff Business School Public Value Engagement Fellowship Scheme

Project title: "Netting Ethical Shrimp: How Technology Can Revolutionize Sustainable Seafood Practices", Internal, (2023-2024). This project is in collaboration with Bangladesh Agriculture university and Cardiff Metropolitan University.

• ESRC Wales DTP Collaborative studentship, 2023- 2027 £155000

Project title: “Understanding and modelling the impact of consumer purchasing behaviour on the global supply chains' decisions in adapting anti-slavery practices”. This is a collaboration with UNSEEN, a UK based anti-slavery charity (2023-2027)

• Main applicant and main investigator, 2022

Funder: Global Wales

Project title: “Modern slavery in the global supply chains” through collaboration with Jindal Global University, India.

• Main applicant and main investigator, 2022

Funder: Cardiff Business School,

Title: “Modern Slavery risk management in the long and complex supply chains: Case study of the Tourism Sector, in collaboration with a global hotel brand. 

• Co-applicant and Co-investigator, 2021

 Funder: ESRC IAA/NPIF ABC 

Title: “How can ethical consultancies help firms maintain employment standards across their operations and supply chains in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic?”  

Examples of defined Live projects with industrial partners for MSC dissertations:

1. Challenges and solutions in meeting a Just Transition, in relation to transparency and human rights in supply chains

2. How modern slavery risk is managed in the banking sector, with a specific focus on the role of investors

3. Critical analysis of banks net zero disclosures and operational resilience against transition risk

4. Green-washing risk and operational resilience in the banking sector

Teaching

Maryam is passionate about teaching, She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). She designed a new module of   "Supply Chain Social Sustainability" for Cardiff Business School, MSC Sustainability Program, and for it, she serves as module leader from Jan. 2021. She is also part of the executive teaching team in "Help to Grow: Management" available to micro- and SMEs. 

Maryam Teaches:

1- Supply Chain Social Sustainability for the MSc students:

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/business-school/about-us/public-value/public-value-teaching/supply-chain-social-sustainability-case-study

2- Sustainability for Business for the MSc students

3- Emplyee Engagmeent and Leading Change, "Help to Grow: Management" Prgram available to micro and SMEs. 

Biography

Educational Background:

- PhD in Management (Operations and supply Chain Management), Cass Buisness School, City University London (2011-2015)

- MRes in Management, Cass Buisness School, City University London (2010-2011)

- MSc. in Industiral engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Iran (2007-2009)

-BSc in Mechinacal engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (1999-2003)

Honours and awards

1-  Finalist for the Individual of the Year Award of UK National Go Awards 2023/2024 for "Champion of Ethical Procurement: Recognizing Excellence in Modern Slavery Awareness and Socially Sustainable Procurement".

2- Finalist for the Unseen modern slavery Individual Impact Award 2023. The four individuals shortlisted for this award were from Scape, Nestle UK, Sodexo and Cardiff University.The awards seek to recognise those who have taken the lead to combat worker exploitation. 

3- Finalist for the Most Outstanding Learning Experience in the Enriching Student Life Awards 2024 at Cardiff University. 

4- Finalist for the Cardiff University Excellence Award 2024 in the category of Civic mission and public engagement. 

4- Public Value engagement fellow, Cardiff Business School, 2023-2024

5- Welsh Crucible 2024 Fellow, which is the esteemed, award-winning program designed to foster personal, professional, and leadership development for the future research leaders of Wales.

Academic positions

1- Senior lecturer of sustainable supply chain management, Cardiff Business School, since Aug. 2023.

2- Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Transport & Supply Chain Management, and the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, since September 2022. 

3- Lecturer of sustainable supply chain management, Cardiff Business School, since Jan. 2020.

Speaking engagements

1- Speaker at Anti-Slavery 2023 Conference,a conference held by Cardiff Business School in partnership with the Welsh Government, the police, and third sector organisations, October 2023, Cardiff, UK

Committees and reviewing

• Member of the British Standards Institute's Modern Slavery Committee since Feb 2025
• Member of Slavery and Trafficking Risk Template (STRT) Development Committee, with the The Social Responsibility Alliance (SRA) since 2024
• Editorial Board of Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management (JTSCM), since 2022
• Advisory board, Continuity & Resilience Review, Emerald Publishing, in association with the Business Continuity Institute, Since 2018

Supervisions

interested to supervise students in the areas of:

• Social sustainability in supply chains including Human rights, child slavery, modern slavery and gender related issues
• Modern slavery and climate change
• The role of technology and innovation (eg. AI, blockchain) in modern slavery risk management 
• DEI in the supply chains
• Modelling modern slavery in the global SC

Current supervision

Abhishek Panchwagh

Vanja Strand

Zhe Li

Amir Salimi Babmiri

Amy Boote

Past projects

1- Vanja Strand (2020-2024), Defended: Dec. 2024. with minor corrections

Topic: Tackling modern slavery in supply chains through business and non-governmental organisation collaborations

Output: 

Paper 1:   Strand, V., Lotfi, M., Flynn, A. and Walker, H. 2024. A systematic literature review of modern slavery in supply chain management: State of the art, framework development and research opportunities. Journal of Cleaner Production 435, p. 140301. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.140301

Award: Winner of the Public Value Award at the 3^rd Welsh Postgraduate Research Conference in 2023.