Doctoral Candidate 

Contact

Phone: +49 (0)40 30601-4531

Email: mahsa.yarahmadi(at)tuhh.de

Room: 4.013 D

About me

My research is about how universities can tell which early student ventures are ready to go further, and on what evidence that judgement should rest. I am also interested in what assessment tools do to the people they measure.

Since October 2026 I have been a research associate and doctoral candidate at the Institute of Innovation Marketing. I work on the ECIU E-Campus project, which helps student teams move from university courses into pre-incubation and on into incubators and European innovation programmes. My part is the assessment standards the alliance will use and the digital tool that supports them.

I came to this question through practice. I co-founded an AI healthcare startup, where I built the product and raised public grants. I have run empirical market research since my first job in the pharmaceutical industry: surveys, qualitative interviews and statistical analysis, in my PharmD thesis, in market access, and in my Master's thesis in supply chain management. I am a pharmacist by training.

Research Interests:

• Innovation and venture assessment in universities
• Early-stage customer and market validation
• AI in entrepreneurship education
• Behavioural effects of measurement on founders and teams