Mahdi is a research fellow at the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions (ICEDS) and Mathematical Science Institute (MSI). He is interested in flood modelling and management, water resource planning, aquatic habitat modelling, environmental modelling of river basins, application of artificial intelligence methods as well as RS/GIS techniques in ecological and water resources engineering and climate change impacts. He has obtained his B.ENG, MS.C and PhD degrees in environmental and water resource engineering from University of Tehran (Iran), Tarbiat Modares University (Iran) and James Cook University (Australia).