Staff Profile
Dr Manuel Herrera
Lecturer in Hydrology
- Email: manuel.herrera@ncl.ac.uk
- Address: Room 3.05, Cassie Building
School of Engineering, 缅北禁地
缅北禁地 upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK
Dr Manuel Herrera is a Lecturer in Hydrology at 缅北禁地 (UK), with extensive research experience in urban water systems and infrastructure modelling. From 2018 to 2024, he held a Senior Research Associate position at the University of Cambridge (UK), where he worked on predictive analytics and network science for the management of complex infrastructure at the Distributed Information and Automation Laboratory. Dr Herrera is a Committee Member of the Strategic Asset Management Specialist Group at the International Water Association (IWA).
Dr Herrera's research focuses on developing intelligent, physics-informed models that improve the resilience, efficiency, and adaptability of water systems. These models combine structure-aware learning, time series analysis, and embedded sensing (AIoT) to predict the performance and reliability of complex infrastructure and urban systems. He plays a leading role in numerous national, international, and industry-funded research projects across the water, communications, transport, and built environment sectors. Currently, Dr Herrera is advancing research in digital water, co-developing scalable tools and AI-driven methods to support real-time, data-informed decision-making in collaboration with utilities and city stakeholders.
Links of interest
- Google Scholar:
- LinkedIn:
- Research Gate:
Professional memberships
- Member of the International Water Association - IWA
- Committee member of the Strategic Asset Management Specialist Group at IWA
- Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) | Committee member of the Statistical Engineering SIG - RSS
- Technical Advisor of the Water Data Taskforce group - BIM4Water (UK)
- Professional Membership (MIWater) of the Institute of Water (UK)
- Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - IEEE
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 systems and digital water infrastructure
- Intelligent systems and AI-driven modelling
- Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) and hybrid modelling
- Structure-aware learning and graph-based methods
- Time series analysis and forecasting for infrastructure systems
- Network resilience and infrastructure interdependencies
- Real-time sensing and AIoT for water and urban systems
- Data-driven decision support and asset management
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
- CEG3004: Sustainable engineering systems design project
- CEG3503: Hydrosystems engineering
Postgraduate teaching
- CEG8102: Introduction to practical hydraulics
- CEG8501: Quantitative methods for engineering
- CEG8529: Digitalisation and artificial intelligence
PhD supervision
Current
- Etienne Yntema - Multi-fidelity digital twin of coastal infrastructure for enhanced resilience, 缅北禁地 (UK) - DLA Scholarship
- Jacob Roberts - Next-generation flood models: Physics-informed neural networks for urban resilience, 缅北禁地 (UK) - WIRe CDT
- Patsheba Ayebare - Development of a shallow water and floating debris modelling system to improve understanding of transport dynamics of debris and its impact on key hydraulic infrastructure, 缅北禁地 (UK)
- Cerith Morgan - Persistent drought and water supply system risk in a changing climate, 缅北禁地 (UK)
- 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/MEng/MPhil supervision
Current
- Harry Pearson - Modelling rainfall-runoff with physics-informed neural networks - MEng in Civil Engineering, 缅北禁地 (UK)
- Jacob Allen - AI vs water? Mapping the growth of data centres under UK water stress - MEng in Civil Engineering, 缅北禁地 (UK)
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)
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Articles
- Sasidharan M, Herrera M, Yilmaz G, Parlikad AK, Schooling J. . Transportation Research Record 2026, epub ahead of print.
- Mukherjee A, Chandra A, Herrera M, Li L, Indiran H, Parekh A, Parlikad AK. . Journal of Risk and Reliability 2026. In Press.
- Okazaki S, Herrera M, Sasidharan M, McNaughton J, Raja J, Parlikad AK. . Journal of Infrastructure Systems 2026, 32(1), 06026001.
- Herrera M, Giudicianni C, Sasidharan M, Wright R, Creaco E, Parlikad AK. . Reliability Engineering & System Safety 2026, 265(Part A), 111563.
- Xie X, Herrera M, Xiaoyu T, James P, Kassem M. . SSRN 2025.
- Herrera M, Xie X, Menapace A, Zanfei A, Brentan BM. . Journal of Cleaner Production 2025, 526, 146528.
- Menapace A, Ferreira Rodrigues A, Dalla Torre D, Larcher M, Herrera M, Brentan BM. . Journal of Hydrology 2025, 663(Part A), 134015.
- Pan N, Sasidharan M, Okazaki S, Herrera M, Parlikad AK. . Reliability Engineering & System Safety 2025, 271, 112019.
- Li L, Herrera M, Mukherjee A, Zheng G, Chen C, Dhada M, Brice H, Parekh A, Parlikad AK. . Expert Systems with Applications 2025, 259, 125312.
- Xia L, Zheng P, Herrera M, Liang Y, Li X, Gao L. . IEEE Transactions on Reliability 2025, 74(3), 3897-3910.
- Brentan BM, Menapace A, Oberascher M, Herrera M, Sitzenfrei R. . Water Research 2025, 285, 124022.
- Solis Jacome R, Anchieta T, Brentan BM, Herrera M, Delgado Galvan X, Arciniega Nevarez JA, Mora Rodriguez J. . Water Science and Engineering 2025, 18(3), 262-273.
- Alvisi S, Franchini M, Marsili V, Mazzoni F, Salomons E, Housh M, Abokifa A, Arsova K, Ayyash F, Bae H, Barreira R, Basto L, Bayer S, Berglund EZ, Biondi D, Boloukasli Ahmadgourabi F, Brentan B, Caetano J, Campos F, Cao H, Cardona S, Carreno Alvarado EP, Carrico N, Chatzistefanou GA, Coy Y, Creaco E, Cuomo S, de Klerk A, Di Nardo A, DiCarlo M, Dittmer U, Dziedzic R, Ebrahim Bakhshipour A, Eliades D, Farmani R, Ferreira B, Gabriele A, Gamboa-Medina MM, Gao F, Gao J, Gargano R, Geranmehr M, Giudicianni C, Glynis K, Gomez S, Gonzalez L, Gross M, Guo H, Habibi MN, Haghighi A, Hammer B, Hans L, Hayslep M, He Y, Hermes L, Herrera M, Hinder F, Hou B, Iglesias-Rey A, Iglesias-Rey PL, Jang IS, Izquierdo J, Jahangir MS, Jara-Arriagada C, Jenks B, Johnen G, Kalami Heris M, Kalumba M, Kang MS, Khashei Varnamkhasti M, Kim KJ, Kley-Holsteg J, Ko T, Koochali A, Kossieris P, Koundouri P, Kuhnert C, Kulaczkowski A, Lee J, Li K, Li Y, Liu H, Liu Y, Lopez-Hojas CA, Maier A, Makropoulos C, Martinez-Solano FJ, Marzouny NH, Menapace A, Michalopoulos C, Moraitis G, Mousa H, Namdari H, Nikolopoulos D, Oberascher M, Ostfeld A, Pagano M, Pasha F, Perafan J, Perelman G, Pesantez J, Polycarpou M, Quarta MG, Que Q, Quilty J, Quintiliani C, Ramachandran A, Reynoso Meza G, Rodriguez V, Romano Y, Saldarriaga J, Salem AK, Samartzis P, Santonastaso GF, Savic D, Schiano Di Cola V, Schol D, Seyoum AG, Shen R, Simukonda K, Sinske A, Sitzenfrei R, Sonnenschein B, Stoianov I, Tabares A, Todini E, Tsiami L, Tsoukalas I, Ulusoy AJ, Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia L, van Heerden A, Vaquet J, Vaquet V, Wallner S, Walraad M, Wang D, Wu S, Wu W, Wunsch A, Yao Y, Yu J, Zanfei A, Zanutto D, Zhang H, Ziebarth M, Ziel F, Zou J. . Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management 2025, 151(10), 04025049.
- Alaggio A, Barros D, Brentan B, Carpitella S, Herrera M, Izquierdo J. . Processes 2025, 13(2), 408.
- Mukherjee A, Sasidharan M, Herrera M, Parlikad AK. . Advanced Engineering Informatics 2024, 60, 102444.
- Abdel-Mooty MN, Sasidharan M, Herrera M, Parlikad AK, Schooling J, Coulibaly P, El-Dakhakhni W. . Reliability Engineering & System Safety 2024, 251, 110334.
- Salehi S, Fontana ME, Tscheikner-Gratl F, Herrera M, Sadiq R, Rashid Mian H. . Urban Water 2024, 21(3), 364-379.
- Creaco E, Giudicianni C, Herrera M. . Engineering Proceedings 2024, 69(1), 188.
- Barros D, Zanfei A, Menapace A, Meirelles G, Herrera M, Brentan BM. . Water Research X 2024, 26, 100280.
- Menapace A, Zanfei A, Herrera M, Brentan BM. . Water 2024, 16(13), 1835.
- Herrera M, Giudicianni C, Creaco E. . Engineering Proceedings 2024, 69(1), 64.
- Chen C, Herrera M, Zheng G, Xia L, Ling Z, Wang J. . IEEE Transactions on Services Computing 2024, 17(5), 2139-2150.
- Bin Wee X, Herrera M, Hadjidemetriu G, Parlikad AK. . Transportation Research Record 2023, 2677(1), 1181-1196.
- Zanfei A, Menapace A, Brentan BM, Sitzenfrei R, Herrera M. . Water Research 2023, 242, 120264.
- Herrera M, Sasidharan M, Cassidy S, Parlikad AK. . Computer Networks 2023, 228, 109747.
- Martinez A, Herrera M, Lopez de la Cruz J, Orozco I. . Water 2023, 15(4), 711.
- Chauhan VK, Brintrup A, Herrera M, Giannikas V, Stojkovic G, McFarlane D. . Data Science and Management 2023, 6(2), 110-121.
- Hadjidemetriu G, Herrera M, Parlikad AK. . 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. . Sustainable Cities and Society 2022, 86, 104090.
- Giudicianni C, Herrera M, di Nardo A, Creaco E, Greco R. . Environmental Modelling & Software 2022, 152, 105405.
- Zanfei A, Brentan BM, Menapace A, Righetti M, Herrera M. . Water Resources Research 2022, 58(7), e2022WR032299.
- Niknam A, Khademi Zare H, Hosseininasab H, Mostafaeipour A, Herrera M. . Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5412.
- Giudicianni C, Herrera M, di Nardo A, Oliva G, Scala A. . Reliability Engineering & System Safety 2021, 212, 107589.
- di Nardo A, Boccelli DL, Herrera M, Sitzenfrei R, Creaco E, Cominola A, Taormina R. . Water 2021, 13(4), 501.
- Perez-Hernandez M, McFarlane D, Parlikad AK, Herrera M, Jain AK. . IEEE Access 2021, 9, 30511-30527.
- Herrera M, Proselkov Y, Perez-Hernandez M, Parlikad AK. . IEEE Access 2021, 9, 8997-9011.
- Xie X, Lu QC, Herrera M, Yu QJ, Parlikad A, Schooling J. . Sustainable Cities and Society 2021, 69, 102804.
- Hadjidemetriu G, Herrera M, Parlikad AK. . Structure and Infrastructure Engineering 2021, 18(8), 1207-1221.
- Giudicianni C, Herrera M, di Nardo A, Carraveta A, Ramos HM, Adeyeye K. . Journal of 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.
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Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)
- Xie X, Herrera M, Tang XY, James P, Kassem M. . In: International Conference on Digital Twins and Applications. 2025, Hong Kong, China.
- Herrera M, Glenis V, Xie X, Brentan BM. . In: 13th World Congress on Water Resources and Environment (EWRA 2025). 2025, Parlermo, Italy: European Water Resources Association.
- Pan N, Sasidharan M, Okazaki S, Herrera M, Cho SI, Kookalani S, Parlikad AK. . In: 1st International Workshop on Bayesian Approach in Civil Engineering (IWOBA 2025). 2025, Hong Kong, China: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
- Dhawan P, Righetti M, Puchkova A, Herrera M. . In: 13th World Congress on Water Resources and Environment (EWRA 2025). 2025, Parlermo, Italy: European Water Resources Association.
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Editorial
- Herrera M, Perez-Hernandez M, Parlikad AK, Izquierdo J. . Processes 2021, 9(11), 2070.
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Working Papers
- Dhawan P, Herrera M, Puchkova A, Righetti M. . SSRN 2025. In Preparation.
- Zanfei A, Herrera M, Brentan B, Menapace A. . SSRN 2025. In Preparation.
- Herrera M, Xie X, Menapace A, Zanfei A, Brentan BM. . EarthArxiv 2025.