Mahnoosh Yazdi Moghaddam

Mahnoosh Yazdi Moghaddam is a PhD candidate in Law at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, under the supervision of Professor Elizabeth F. Judge. Her doctoral research examines artificial intelligence governance, with particular attention to substantive and intersectional equality, human rights, accountability, and the design of legal and institutional safeguards for rights-affecting AI systems in Canada.

Her broader research interests include technology law, cyber law, responsible AI, access to justice, privacy, and the legal and ethical implications of emerging technologies. Her doctoral work draws on doctrinal, comparative, interdisciplinary, and feminist legal approaches to examine how law can respond to the sociotechnical challenges created by AI.

Mahnoosh holds a Master’s degree in Communications Law from Allameh Tabataba’i University, an LL.B. from Ferdowsi University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from Ferdowsi University, all completed with First Class Honours. Before and during her doctoral studies, she gained professional experience in legal research, technology law, immigration law, refugee resettlement, and newcomer services. She has also undertaken specialized training in AI, law, governance, privacy, and digital transformation, including programs offered by the University of Oxford in partnership with UNESCO.

• Admission Scholarship, University of Ottawa PhD Program (2022–2026)
• International Doctoral Scholarship, University of Ottawa (2022–2026)
• Government full scholarships for undergraduate and graduate studies in Iran (2010–2019). 
• Ranked 90th among more than 460,000 participants in Iran’s nationwide university entrance examination (2010). 
• Honorary admission to the Bachelor of Social Sciences program at Ferdowsi University as an elite student (2011).

• Yazdi Moghaddam, Mahnoosh.“Beyond Efficiency: Rethinking Access to Justice in AI Applied to Law.” Working-paper proposal selected for presentation at the AI for Law Scholars Conference and Works-in-Progress Workshop, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, 2026.
• Yazdi Moghaddam, Mahnoosh.“Breaking the Digital Glass Ceiling: Gender Discrimination in National Search Engines and Protecting Women’s Right to Access Information Online.”Manuscript submitted to the Osgoode Hall Law Journal.
• Yazdi Moghaddam, Mahnoosh. “Legal Analysis of the Principle of Neutrality of Internet Search Engines in the European Union, the United States, China, and Iran.” Scientific Journal of Journalism and Communications Law, Issue 1, Spring–Summer 2019, p. 67. 
• Yazdi Moghaddam, Mahnoosh. “Sex Tourism in Cyberspace in Iranian Law.” Proceedings of the First National Conference on the Current and Future Status of Communication and Media Law in Iran, Allameh Tabataba’i University Press; indexed in the Islamic World Science Citation Database.