Postdoctoral researcher

I study regional resilience, firm capabilities, and the geography of economic change.

I am a regional economist working at the intersection of regional development, firm strategy, global production networks, and regional political economy. My research asks how places and firms adapt to shocks, technological change, and sustainability pressures.

About me

Research Interests

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turin, where I work on the international organization of production, firm capabilities, and resilience under economic and sustainability transitions. My current research examines how global value chain participation and the degree of internationalization shape firms’ adoption of circular economy strategies and their resilience to systemic shocks. I also study the microfoundations of Open Strategic Autonomy, with particular attention to how firm-level innovation can reduce import dependency and support more resilient regional and national economies.
I have a broader interest in the changing organization of production across places and how that affects regional resilience, with some of my work connecting evolutionary economic geography with firm-level perspectives on capabilities, international exposure, and adaptation under disruption.

My research interests include regional resilience, global and regional value chains, MNEs, circular economy strategies, digital technologies, input-output networks, and the spatial consequences of structural change. I am especially interested in how regional and firm-level capabilities condition adjustment during systemic shocks.

Regional resilience Economic geography Firm capabilities GVCs Input-output networks Political economy Sustainability transitions Digital technologies

Ongoing work

Current projects

Peer-based regional resilience and interregional benchmarking
Develops a framework for measuring regional resilience relative to comparable peer regions rather than only against a region’s own pre-shock trajectory.
Circular economy strategies and firm resilience under systemic shocks
Examines how circular economy practices shape firm recovery after disruption, with attention to international exposure and tension-management capacity.
Regional capabilities, ownership networks, and structural change
Uses firm ownership links, input-output connections, and capability measures to study how regions are positioned within changing economic networks.
Digital connectivity and resilience-relevant capabilities
Explores whether ICT and digital capabilities moderate the relationship between external exposure and regional or firm-level adaptation.
The microfoundations of open strategic autonomy
Studies how firm-level innovation capabilities can reduce import dependency and contribute to more resilient regional and national economies in a context of geopolitical, technological, and sustainability-related disruptions.

Publications

Publications

  1. Shaheen, I., Brakman, S., Canello, J., & Garretsen, H. (2025) Firm interconnectedness and resilience: evidence from the Italian manufacturing. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society. Link
  2. Shaheen, I., Brakman, S., Canello, J., & Garretsen, H. (2025) Globalisation in flux: examining the role of inter-regional linkages in building regional resilience. Regional Studies, Regional Science. Link
  3. Shaheen, I. (2024) Regional resilience and interconnectedness: a multilevel approach. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Groningen, FEB Research Institute. . Link

Presentations

Talks and conference presentations

Presentation at ERSA 61th Congress in Pecs, Hungary
Date: August 22- 26, 2022 Place: Pecs, Hungary

Firm interconnectedness and resilience. Evidence from the Italian manufacturing industry

Paper presentation on the role of interconnectedness via FDI for firm resilience. Event: European Regional Science Association 61th Congress.

Presentation at ERSA 60th Congress in Bolzano, Italy
Date: July 24, 2021 Place: Bolzano, Italy

To raise or to erase the borders. An empirical investigation of the link between regional interconnectedness and resilience

Paper presentation on regional interconnectedness and resilience. Event: European Regional Science Association 60th Congress .

Online presentation at the Regional Studies Association Global E-Festival
Date: June 18, 2021 Place: Online

From intra-region to inter-region. A new method to operationalize resilience

Paper presentation on operationalizing regional resilience. Event: Regions in Recovery, Regional Studies Association Global E-Festival .

Blog

Notes, essays, and research reflections

The homepage includes this blog section as part of the scroll-down structure, while the actual posts open on a separate blog page. Each post has a title, date, optional header photo, and space for images within the text.

Open the blog

Contact

Get in touch

I am open to academic collaborations, seminar invitations, and research conversations around regional resilience, economic geography, GVCs, GPNs, and firm-level adaptation.

Email: ibrahim.shaheen@unito.it

Affiliation: University of Turin

Location: Turin, Italy

Unito webpage: View profile

LinkedIn: Connect with me