Summary
Summary
I am currently a Research Fellow on Imperial College's ICRF scheme, focussing on integrated water infrastructure modeling. In my role, I emphasise the importance importance of evaluating water infrastructure efficiency based on its impacts on river quality. My research seeks to break down traditional silos in modeling water supply, wastewater, and rivers, aiming to create a holistic view of the water cycle.
Through the novel integrated modelling software, WSIMOD, I have created an approach that enables simulating the complex interactions different physical systems and water managers. In a proof-of-concept study, I have demonstrated the feasibility of linking chemical water quality with biodiversity status using machine learning techniques. On this fellowship I will further explore the link between sewer systems (and in particular sewage spills) and their impact on river biodiversity.
Research Themes
-Network modelling. Through creating integrated water system models and sewer models, I have developed a set of skills targeted towards network analysis and modelling.
-Water resources modelling. I have a wide range of experience in modelling water supply systems. I hope to transfer these skills towards modelling not just supply but wastewater, water quality and flooding.
-Uncertainty and systems analysis. A key focus of my PhD was in quantifying the uncertainty in a water resource system model that arises due to the model boundaries. The boundary between social and physical systems is probably one of the most important model boundaries yet among the least studied.
-Optimisation. I have always been interested in optimisation and developed a broad understanding of optimisation in the context of the control of water systems. I believe optimisation is critical to both modelling complex systems and in making the models more useful applications.
Background
2023-current - Research Fellow at the Fluids section of Civil Engineering at Imperial College London.
2019-2023 - Research Associate in integrated water systems at the Environmental and Water Resources Engineering section of Civil Engineering at Imperial College London. During this position I worked with Dr Ana Mijic on the CAMELLIA project where I explored integrated water system modelling and created the WSIMOD software.
2018-2019 - Research Associate in water resources at the Department of Geography, University of Oxford. During this position I worked with Prof Jim Hall on the Marius project in creating a model of the entire water supply for England and Wales.
2014-2018 - PhD titled Uncertainty in modelling and optimising water resource systems at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol as part of the WISE CDT. During my PhD I was supervised by Dr Francesca Pianosi and Prof Thorsten Wagener. I passed my viva with no corrections in 2019.
Publications
See publications pane or my Google scholar
Publications
Journals
Mijic A, Liu L, O’Keeffe J, et al., 2024, A meta-model of socio-hydrological phenomena for sustainable water management, Nature Sustainability, Vol:7, ISSN:2398-9629, Pages:7-14
Liu L, Dobson B, Mijic A, 2023, Water quality management at a critical checkpoint by coordinated multi-catchment urban-rural load allocation, Journal of Environmental Management, Vol:340, ISSN:0301-4797