Marzieh Foroutan

Marzieh was born in Shiraz in the month of May as the youngest child in her family. From a young age, she had the habit of having someone sit by her bedside and hold her hand until she fell asleep, a practice that continued during all her travels to Iran.

She lost her father at the age of 18 and decided to study plant breeding engineering at Shiraz University, where she completed a master's degree in natural resources. She graduated as the top student and had the opportunity to enter the doctoral program without an entrance exam. However, due to issues during her thesis phase, she decided to pursue further studies in Canada.

Before traveling to Canada, Marzieh visited Turkey after her scientific poster was selected there. In Canada, she obtained her second master's degree from the University of Calgary and was invited to present scientific papers at various universities. During a trip to Iran, she visited the Lut Desert with a German group.

One of her dreams was to travel to Antarctica in the summer of 2020 with her professor and their team, a dream that was never realized. The University of Waterloo offered her a chance to pursue a doctorate in environmental studies. She had completed the final stages of her doctoral program and was ready to begin her postdoctoral studies.

A few days after 8 January, the University of Waterloo established a scholarship in Marzieh Foroutan's name to honour her memory. She was one of the 176 passengers who lost their lives on Ukrainian flight PS 752. Her paintings and caricatures, created with her own hands, continue to be remembered.