Mahdi Takaffoli is a senior research engineer at the Materials and Manufacturing Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Canada. He has served as the coordinator for several research and training initiatives, including the Cluster of Research Excellence in Biocomposites, the Cluster for Microplastics, Health, and the Environment, and the Circular Economy Seed Funding program. Mahdi holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and is an alumnus of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's From Linear to Circular Programme.