Staff Profile

Dr Manuel Herrera is a Lecturer in Hydrology at Newcastle University (UK) with extensive research experience in urban water management. Dr Herrera was formerly affiliated with the University of Cambridge (UK) as a Senior Research Associate in distributed intelligent systems (2018-24) at the Distributed Information and Automation Laboratory, developing predictive analytics and network science solutions for managing infrastructure systems. He is still affiliated with the University of Cambridge as a Research Collaborator (2024-).

Overall, Dr Herrera's work integrates computational intelligence and complexity science to enhance the resilience and efficiency of water systems. His research interests also encompass understanding and predicting the behaviour of complex systems such as cities and infrastructure networks. He has played a pivotal role in numerous projects funded by industry, the UK government, and research councils across sectors such as water, communications, transport, and the built environment, contributing significantly to our knowledge of how complex systems behave and adapt. Currently, Dr Herrera is actively engaged in "digital water" research, aiming to bridge the gap between academia and industry by co-creating research initiatives that can be directly utilised by water utilities for deployment in water systems operations and management.

Links of interest

• Google Scholar: Click here
• LinkedIn: Click here
• Research Gate: Click here

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society
• Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - IEEE
• Member of the International Water Association - IWA
• Member of the Institute of Water (UK)

Editorial roles

• Associate Editor: AQUA - Water Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Society
• Editorial board member: PLOS Water

Awards

• Excellence in Research (2022): Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge
• Frank-Hansford Miller fellowship in applied statistics (2021-22): WA Branch, Statistical Society of Australia

Research interests

• Urban water management
• Digital water
• Critical infrastructure
• Risk and reliability
• Data-driven decision making
• Complex systems
• Network science
• Machine learning

Current research projects

• Common definition and calculation of asset health - UKWIR
• Resilient communication network - Boeing Research & Technology
• Decision-making with AI in connected places and cities - AI@Cam, U. of Cambridge

Previous research projects

• Interdependency between railway track and drainage systems - Network Rail
• Whole-system decision making for railway infrastructure - Network Rail, UIC
• Enhancing port efficiency through 5G and predictive data analytics (5G Ports) - UK Dept. for Culture, Media and Sports
• Next generation converged digital infrastructure - EPSRC, British Telecom (BT)

Undergraduate teaching

• CEG3001: Design of sustainable engineering systems 3 (DSES3)
• CEG3004: Sustainable engineering systems design project

Postgraduate teaching

• CEG8102: Introduction to practical hydraulics

PhD supervision

Current

• Adrian Martinez - Machine learning for estimating vulnerability to climate change in hydrological basins - University of Guanajuato (MX)
• Rair Solis - Hydrometric districts and pressure mgmt. to improve water networks efficiency by harmony search - University of Guanajuato (MX)

Past

• Claudia Navarrete - Epidemiological methods of data analysis for water systems mgmt. - PhD in Water Engineering, 2023, Polytechnic University of Valencia, UPV (SP)
• Joanna Gutierrez - Monitoring, detection and estimation of failure states in water distribution networks - PhD in Water Engineering, 2021, UPV (SP)
• Carlo Giudicianni - Analysis and mgmt. of water systems through complex network theory - PhD in Environment Design and Innovation, 2020, University Luigi Vanvitelli (IT)
• Eva Ramos - Assessing biofilm development in water distribution systems by machine learning methods - PhD in Water Engineering, 2016, UPV (SP)
• David Ayala - Characterization of components of water supply systems from GPR images and data analysis - PhD in Water Engineering, 2015, UPV (SP)

MSc/MPhil supervision

Current

• ...

Past

• Gen Li - A system-of-systems approach to managing interdependent infrastructure networks - MPhil in Industrial Systems, 2023, University of Cambridge (UK)
• Leo-Paul Brunel - Digital water infrastructure management under partial information - MPhil in Industrial Systems, 2023, University of Cambridge (UK)
• Rawan Alkhalaf - Network mgmt. tool for dynamic criticality assessment of a national digital infrastructure - MPhil in Industrial Systems, 2022, University of Cambridge (UK)
• Xian Bin Wee - Infrastructure criticality assessment: Analysis and simulation of city adaptive environments - MPhil in Industrial Systems, 2021, University of Cambridge (UK)
• Helen Barbosa - Time series dimensionality reduction and extreme wind speed detection for energy generation - MSc in Electrical Eng., 2018, University of Pernambuco (BR)

• Articles

  • Li L, Herrera M, Mukherjee A, Zheng G, Chen C, Dhada M, Brice H, Parekh A, Parlikad AK. Predictive alarm models for improving radio access network robustness. Expert Systems with Applications 2025, 259, 125312.
  • Mukherjee A, Sasidharan M, Herrera M, Parlikad AK. Unsupervised constrained discord detection in IoT-based online crane monitoring. Advanced Engineering Informatics 2024, 60, 102444.
  • Abdel-Mooty MN, Sasidharan M, Herrera M, Parlikad AK, Schooling J, Coulibaly P, El-Dakhakhni W. Strategic assessment of bridge susceptibility to scour. Reliability Engineering & System Safety 2024, 251, 110334.
  • Salehi S, Fontana ME, Tscheikner-Gratl F, Herrera M, Sadiq R, Rashid Mian H. Nominal-based fuzzy multi-criteria group decision-making for water distribution network rehabilitation. Urban Water 2024, 21(3), 364-379.
  • Creaco E, Giudicianni C, Herrera M. Multi-Model Demand Forecasting in Water Distribution Network Districts. Engineering Proceedings 2024, 69(1), 188.
  • Barros D, Zanfei A, Menapace A, Meirelles G, Herrera M, Brentan BM. Leak detection and localization in water distribution systems via multilayer networks. Water Research X 2024, Epub ahead of print.
  • Menapace A, Zanfei A, Herrera M, Brentan BM. Graph neural networks for sensor placement: A proof of concept towards a digital twin of water distribution systems. Water 2024, 16(13), 1835.
  • Xia L, Zheng P, Herrera M, Liang Y, Li X, Gao L. Graph embedding-based Bayesian network for fault isolation in complex equipment. IEEE Transactions on Reliability 2024, epub ahead of print.
  • Herrera M, Giudicianni C, Creaco E. District Information Areas: A Distributed Decision-Making Approach for Urban Water Systems. Engineering Proceedings 2024, 69(1), 64.
  • Chen C, Herrera M, Zheng G, Xia L, Ling Z, Wang J. Cross-edge orchestration of serverless functions with probabilistic caching. IEEE Transactions on Services Computing 2024, epub ahead of print.
  • Bin Wee X, Herrera M, Hadjidemetriu G, Parlikad AK. Simulation and criticality assessment of urban rail and interdependent infrastructure networks. Transportation Research Record 2023, 2677(1), 1181-1196.
  • Zanfei A, Menapace A, Brentan BM, Sitzenfrei R, Herrera M. Shall we always use hydraulic models? A graph neural network metamodel for water system calibration and uncertainty assessment. Water Research 2023, 242, 120264.
  • Herrera M, Sasidharan M, Cassidy S, Parlikad AK. Performance assessment of a communication infrastructure with redundant topology: A complex network approach. Computer Networks 2023, 228, 109747.
  • Martinez A, Herrera M, Lopez de la Cruz J, Orozco I. Coupled model for assessing the future vulnerability of watersheds to climate change impacts. Water 2023, 15(4), 711.
  • Chauhan VK, Brintrup A, Herrera M, Giannikas V, Stojkovic G, McFarlane D. A network science approach to identify disruptive elements of an airline. Data Science and Management 2023, 6(2), 110-121.
  • Hadjidemetriu G, Herrera M, Parlikad AK. Planning road network layout based on connectivity assessment of critical assets. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Smart Infrastructure and Construction 2022, 175(4), 181-189.
  • Zanfei A, Menapace A, Brentan BM, Righetti M, Herrera M. Novel approach for burst detection in water distribution systems based on graph neural networks. Sustainable Cities and Society 2022, 86, 104090.
  • Giudicianni C, Herrera M, di Nardo A, Creaco E, Greco R. Multi-criteria method for the realistic placement of water quality sensors on pipes of water distribution systems. Environmental Modelling & Software 2022, 152, 105405.
  • Zanfei A, Brentan BM, Menapace A, Righetti M, Herrera M. Graph convolutional recurrent neural network for water demand forecasting. Water Resources Research 2022, 58(7), e2022WR032299.
  • Niknam A, Khademi Zare H, Hosseininasab H, Mostafaeipour A, Herrera M. A critical review of short-term water demand forecasting tools. What method should I use?. Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5412.
  • Giudicianni C, Herrera M, di Nardo A, Oliva G, Scala A. The faster the better: On the shortest paths role for near real-time decision making of water utilities. Reliability Engineering & System Safety 2021, 212, 107589.
  • di Nardo A, Boccelli DL, Herrera M, Sitzenfrei R, Creaco E, Cominola A, Taormina R. Smart urban water networks: Solutions, trends and challenges. Water 2021, 13(4), 501.
  • Perez-Hernandez M, McFarlane D, Parlikad AK, Herrera M, Jain AK. Relaxing platform dependencies in agent-based control systems. IEEE Access 2021, 9, 30511-30527.
  • Herrera, M, Proselkov, Y, Perez-Hernandez, M, Parlikad, AK. Mining graph-Fourier transform time series for anomaly detection of Internet traffic at core and metro networks. IEEE Access 2021, 9, 8997 - 9011.
  • Xie X, Lu QC, Herrera M, Yu QJ, Parlikad A, Schooling J. Does historical data still count? Exploring the applicability of smart building applications in the post-pandemic period. Sustainable Cities and Society 2021, 69, 102804.
  • Hadjidemetriu G, Herrera M, Parlikad AK. Condition and criticality-based predictive maintenance prioritisation for networks of bridges. Structure and Infrastructure Engineering 2021, 18(8), 1207-1221.
  • Giudicianni, C, Herrera, M, di Nardo, A, Carraveta, A, Ramos, HM, Adeyeye, K. Zero-net energy management for the monitoring and control of dynamically partitioned smart water systems. Cleaner Production 2020, 252, 119745.
  • Giudicianni, C, Herrera, M, di Nardo, A, Greco, C, Creaco, E, Scala, A. Topological placement of quality sensors in water distribution networks without the recourse to hydraulic modelling. Water Resources Planning and Management 2020, 146(6), 04020030.
  • Giudicianni, C, Herrera, M, di Nardo, A, Adeyeye, K, Ramos, HM. Overview of energy recovery and leakage control systems for smart water grids. Modelling 2020, 1(2), 134 - 155.
  • Parkin, A, Herrera, M, Coley, D. Net-zero buildings: When carbon and energy metrics diverge. Building & Cities 2020, 1(1), 86 - 99.
  • Herrera, M, Perez-Hernandez, M, Parlikad, AK, Izquierdo, J. Multi-agent systems and complex networks: Review and applications in Systems Engineering. Processes 2020, 8(3), 312.
  • Giudicianni, C, Herrera, M, di Nardo, A, Adeyeye, K. Automatic multiscale approach for water networks partitioning into dynamic district metered areas. Water Resources Management 2020, 34, 835 - 848.

• Editorial

  • Herrera M, Perez-Hernandez M, Parlikad AK, Izquierdo J. Control and optimization of multi-agent systems and complex networks for systems engineering. Processes 2021, 9(11), 2070.