Google Scholar Profile

Ranked in the top 0.2% of researchers globally in Environmental Engineering in "Top 2% Scientists"

Ranked 29 in Australia and 1238 in the World in Computer Science in Resarch.com

Awarded Computer Science Leader Award (2025) in Research.com

Relevant Lifetime Global "Scholar GPS" Rankings:

• Top 0.11% Overall (All Fields)
• Top 0.07% in Civil & Environmental Engineering
• Top 0.11% in Engineering and Computer Science

Algorithms / Methods:

• Top 0.003% in Environmental Modelling
• Top 0.004% in Artificial Neural Network
• Top 0.09% in Network Model
• Top 0.07% in Mathematical Optimization
• Top 0.1% in Ant Colony Optimization Algorithms
• Top 0.37% in Genetic Algorithm

Application Areas:

• Top 0.005% in Water Resources
• Top 0.32% in Water Supply
• Top 0.36% in River
• Top 0.62% in Hydrology
• Top 0.88% in Greenhouse Gas

Natural Hazards

Selected Projects

• Unified Natural Hazard Risk Mitigation Exploratory Decision (UNHaRMED) Support System Tool for Western Australia, $2,219,250, Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, Western Australia, 2025-2027 (Lead CI).

• Improved decision support for natural hazard risk reduction, $2,579,000, Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2014-2024 (Lead CI).

• Sea Flood Mapping and Impact Assessment for Port Adelaide and Surrounds, $255,000, Disaster Risk Reduction Fund, 2023-2024 (CI).

• Adaptive Analytical Bushfire Likelihood (AABL) Tool for Better Understanding and Reducing Future Bushfire Risk, $672,250, SmartSat CRC, 2022-2024 (Lead CI).

• Assessment of Opportunities and Risks Associated with using Different Approaches to Reducing Future Bushfire Risk via Fuel Management, $210,000, Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC/Victorian Country Fire Authority, 2020-2022 (Lead CI).

• An Integrated Decision Support Tool for Understanding and Responding to Current and Future Flood Risk – Gawler River Catchment, $156,720, Disaster Risk Reduction Fund, 2019 (CI).

• Integrated Urban Planning for Natural Hazard Mitigation, $540,000, Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2017-2020 (CI).

Presentations

• "Quantifiying and Mitigating Future Risk (2:20-13:35)", Holger Maier, Risk Ready or Not - Research Tuesdays, University of Adelaide, March 2023.
• "Understanding future bushfire risk and how to manage it (32:02-46:30)" Holger Maier, Firing Debate - Research Tuesdays, University of Adelaide, March 2020.
• "A spatial decision support system for natural hazard risk reduction policy assessment and planning", Holger Maier, The Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan, July 2018.

Selected Professional Activities

• Member, Maribyrnong Flood Independent Review Panel, 2023-2024.

Decision Support / Software Tools

• UNHaRMED - Unified Natural Hazard Risk Mitigation Exploratory Decision Support System
• FireEmu

Additional Information

• WA to implement University's risk-reduction system UNHaRMED, University of Adelaide, 2025.
• Averting disaster with UNHaRMED software, Environment Institute, University of Adelaide, 2021.
• UNHaRMED: Improved decision support for natural hazard risk reduction, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, 2020.

Selected PhD Students

• Douglas Radford (2024) (Prinicipal Supervisor) "Optimising fuel treatment plans to achieve bushfire risk reduction objectives using computationally efficient and process-based metamodels"
• Eike Hamers (2023) (Prinicipal Supervisor) "A coupled approach to regional flood and land-use modelling to determine the impact of land-use-change and mitigation strategies on flood risk reduction"
• Graeme Riddell (2019) (Co-Supervisor) "Foresight for risk - using scenarios for strategic risk assessment and management of emergent disaster risk"
• Charles Newland (2018) (Prinicipal Supervisor) "Developing a (semi) automatic calibration procedure for cellular automata based land-use models"

Teaching / Training

• Maier H.R., Jeanneau A., Radford D.A. and He L. (2023) Integrated natural hazard risk management: A two-week intensive course. In Vaze, J., Chilcott, C., Hutley, L. and Cuddy, S.M. (eds) MODSIM2023, 25th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand, July 2023, pp. 548-554. ISBN: 978-0-9872143-0-0.

Overview / Opionion Papers

• Ghaffarian S., Taghikhah F., Maier H.R. (2023) Explainable artificial intelligence in disaster risk management: Achievements and prospective futures, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 98, 104123.
• Razavi S., Gober P., Maier H.R, Brouwer R., Wheater H. (2020) Antropocene flooding: Challenges for science and society, Hydrological Processes, 34(8).
• Maier H.R., Riddell G., van Delden H. (2017) Natural hazard risk: Is it just going to get worse or can we do something about it? The Conversation.
• Newman J.P., Maier H.R., Riddell G.A., Zecchin A.C., Daniell J., Schaefer A., van Delden H., Khazai B., O'Flaherty M.J. and Newland C.P. (2017) Review of literature on decision support systems for natural hazard risk reduction: Current status and future research directions , Environmental Modelling and Software, 96, 378-409.

Recent Publications

• Radford D., Maier H.R., van Delden H., Zecchin A.C., Jeanneau A. (2024) Predicting burn probability: Dimensionality reduction strategies enable accurate and computationally efficient metamodeling, Journal of Environmetnal Management, 371, 123086.
• He L., Jeanneau A., Ramsey S., Radford D.A.G., Zecchin A.C., Reinke K., Jones S., van Delden H., McNaught T., Westra S., Maier H.R. (2024) Estimating fuel load for wildfire risk assessment at regional scales using earth observation data: A case study in Southwestern Australia, Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, 36, 101356.
• Radford D., Maier H.R., van Delden H., Zecchin A.C., Jeanneau A. (2024) An efficient, multi-scale neighbourhood index to quantify wildfire likelihood, International Journal of Wildland Fire , 33(5).
• Hamers E., Maier H.R., Zecchin A.C., van Delden H. (2024) Framework for considering the interactions between climate change, socio-economic development and land use planning in the assessment of future flood risk , Environmental Modelling & Software, 171, 105886.
• Hamers E., Maier H.R., Zecchin A.C., van Delden H. (2023) Effectiveness of nature-based solutions for mitigating the impact of pluvial flooding in urban areas at the regional scale, Water, 2023, 15, 642.

Other Key Publications

• Newland C.P., Maier H.R., Zecchin A.C., Newman J.P. (2022) Impact of the degree of incorporation of domain knowledge into the automatic calibration of land use (natural hazard exposure) models. 11th International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, Brussels, Belgium, Ann van Griensven, Jiri Nossent, Stefan Reis (Eds.).
• Radford D.A.G., Lawler T.C., Edwards B.R., Disher B.R.W., Maier H.R., Ostendorf B., Nairn J., van Delden H., Goodsite M. (2022) A framework for the mitigation and adaptation from heat-related risks to infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and Society, 81, 103820.
• Moore E., Zhar Y., Radford P., O'Callaghan M., Maier H.R., Riddell G., van Delden H., Wouters M. (2021) Modelling future changes in social vulnerability and bushfire risk. Proceedings, 24th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 5 to 10 December 2021, 309-315.
• March A., Riddell G.A., de Moraes L.N, Stanley J., van Delden H., Beilin R., Dovers S., Maier H.R. (2020) Urban planning capabilities for bushfire: Treatment categories and scenario testing, Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 35(6), 32-40.
• Riddell G.A., van Delden H., Maier H.R, Zecchin A.C. (2020) Tomorrow's disasters - embedding foresight principles into disaster risk assessment and treatment, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 45, 101437.
• Newland C.P., van Delden H., Zecchin A.C., Newman J.P. and Maier H.R. (2020) A hybrid (semi) automatic calibration method for Cellular Automata land-use models: Combining evolutionary algorithms with process understanding, Environmental Modelling and Software, 134, 104830.
• Riddell G.A., van Delden H., Maier H.R, Zecchin A.C. (2019) Exploratory scenario analysis for disaster risk reduction: Considering alternative pathways in disaster risk assessment, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 39, 101230.
• Riddell G.A., van Delden H., Dandy G.C., Zecchin A.C., Maier H.R. (2018) Enhancing the policy relevance of exploratory scenarios: Generic approach and application to disaster risk reduction, Futures, 99, 1-15.
• Newland C.P., Maier H.R., Zecchin A.C., Newman J.P. , van Delden H. (2018) Multi-objective optimisation framework for calibration of Cellular Automata land-use models, Environmental Modelling and Software, 100, 175-200.

Smart Stormwater

Selected Projects

• Smart stormwater infrastructure for natural hazard risk reduction, $2,109,000, Disaster Ready Fund, 2024-2027 (CI).

• Smart detention tank storage - A solution to catchment scale flood risk, $230,272, Stormwater Management Authority, City of Mitcham and City of Norwood Payneham and St. Peters, 2022-2024 (CI).

• Smart storage optimisation to reduce flooding, $150,000, City of Unley and City of Mitcham, 2019 (CI).

Selected Presentations

• Smart Stormwater Storage: Opportinuties for Smart Technology to Reduce Flood Infrastructure Costs and Provide Water for Urban Greening, Mark Thyer and Holger Maier, Project Presentation.
• Use of Machine Learning for the Smart Design and Real Time Control of Stormwater Storages, Holger Maier and Mark Thyer, Invited Plenary Talk, franc.sydney stormwater conference, 2022.

Selected PhD Students:

• Ruijie (Jerry) Liang (2023) (Principal Supervisor) "Real-time control of stormwater storages to improve performance of urban stormwater systems"
• Michael Di Matteo (2016) (Co-Supervisor) "Multiobjective planning and design of distributed stormwater harvesting and treatment systems through optimization and visual analytics"

Additional Resources

• Smart Stormwater Storage: A Sustainable Solution, Project Podcast.
• Smart Stormwater Systems: Presentations, Videos and Reports.
• Smart Stormwater Systems Project Fact Sheet

Selected Research Publications

• Liang R., Thyer M.A., Maier H.R., Dandy G.C., Berglund E.Z. (2025) Adapting to future changes using smart stormwater storage systems to preserve flow regimes, Journal of Hydrology X, 28-29, 100206.
• Liang R., Maier H.R., Thyer M.A. and Dandy G.C. (2024) A practical, adaptive, and scalable real-time control approach for stormwater storage systems, Water, 16(19), 2844.
• Hamers E., Maier H.R., Zecchin A.C. and van Delden H. (2023) Effectiveness of nature-based solutions for mitigating the impact of pluvial flooding in urban areas at the regional scale, Water, 2023, 15, 642.
• Liang R., Maier H.R., Thyer M.A., Dandy G.C., Tan Y., Chhay M., Sau T. and Lam V. (2022) Calibration-free approach to reactive real-time control of stormwater storages, Journal of Hydrology, 614 (Part B), 128559.
• Liang R., Thyer M.A., Maier H.R., Dandy G.C and Di Matteo M. (2021)  Optimising the design and real-time operation of systems of distributed stormwater storages to reduce urban flooding at the catchment scale, Journal of Hydrology, 602, 126787.
• Liang R., Di Matteo M., Maier H.R., Thyer M.A. (2019) Real-time, smart rainwater storage systems: Potential solution to mitigate urban flooding, Water, 11, 2428.
• Dandy G.C., Marchi A., Maier H.R., Kandulu J., Hatton MacDonald D., Ganji A. (2019) An integrated framework for selecting and evaluating the performance of stormwater harvesting options to supplement existing water supply systems, Environmental Modelling and Software, 122, 104554.
• Di Matteo M., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2019) Many-objective portfolio optimization approach for stormwater management project selection encouraging decision maker buy-in, Environmental Modelling and Software, 111, 340-355.
• Di Matteo M., Liang R., Maier H.R., Thyer M.A.,Simpson A.R., Dandy G.C. and Ernst B. (2019) Controlling rainwater storages as a system: An opportunity to reduce urban flood peaks for rare, long duration storms, Environmental Modelling and Software, 111, 34-41.
• Di Matteo M., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2017) A multi-stakeholder portfolio optimization framework applied to stormwater best management practice (BMP) selection, Environmental Modelling and Software, 97, 16-31.

Hydrology and Water Resources Management

Selected Projects:

• Opportunities and risks associated with identifying, sourcing and treating brackish groundwater, $299,220, One Basin CRC, 2023-2025 (CI).

• Developing robust hydrological predictions for Australia's water challenges, $381,000, ARC Discovery Projects, 2019-2024 (CI).

• Optimal water resources mix for metropolitan Adelaide, 384,000, Goyder Institute for Water Resources, 2012-2013 (CI).

• Improved modelling of the catchments and drainage network in the upper south east for management outcomes, 179,267, Goyder Institute for Water Resources, 2012-2014 (CI).

• Managed aquifer recharge and urban stormwater use options, $246,000, Goyder Institute for Water Resources, 2011-2013 (CI).

• Development of decision support frameworks for water resource management in the South East, $198,000, Goyder Institute for Water Resources, 2011-2012 (CI).

• Evaluation and application of Source Rivers modelling framework to the South Australian reaches of the River Murray, $80,350, SA Department for Water, 2011 (Lead CI).

• Innovative approach to the optimal management of water resources and application to the Upper South East Region of South Australia, $600,000, ARC Linkage Projects, 2006-2010 (Lead CI).

• New techniques for artifical neural network modelling in hydrology, $132,984, ARC Discovery Projects, 2003-2004 (Lead CI).

• Improving flow management for the control of blue-green algal blooms, $91,000, ARC Discovery Projects, 2002-2004 (Lead CI).

Selected PhD Students:

• Danlu Guo (2016) (Co-Supervisor) "Practical implementation of the scenario-neutral approach to climate impact assessments for hydrological systems"
• Eva Beh (2014) (Principal Supervisor) "Optimal sequencing of water supply options incorporating sustainability and uncertainty"
• Fiona Paton (2014) (Principal Supervisor) "Frameworks for assessing and improving urban water supply security planning under climate change"
• Li Li (2013) (Principal Supervisor) "Frameworks for evaluating and improving simplified hydrologic models for baseflow and rainfall-runoff estimation using disributed physical models"
• Daniel Partington (2013) (Principal Supervisor) "Fully integrated modelling of surface-subsurfaceflow processes: Quantifying in-stream and overland flow generation mechanisms"

Overview / Opionion Papers

• Thyer M., Gupta H., Westra S., McInerney D., Maier H.R., Kavetski D., Jakeman A., Croke B., Simmons C., Partington D., Shanafield M and Tague C. (2024) Virtual hydrological laboratories: Developing the next generation of conceptual models to support decision making under change, Water Resources Research, 60, e2022WR034234.
• Wu W., Eamen L., Dandy G., Razavi S., Kuczera G. and Maier H.R. (2023) Beyond engineering: A review of reservoir management through the lens of wickedness, competing objectives and uncertainty, Environmental Modelling and Software, 167, 105777.

Recent Publications

• McInerney D., Thyer, M., Kavetski D., Westra S., Maier H.R., Shanafield M., Croke B., Gupta H. Bennett B., Leonard M. (2024) Neglecting hydrological errors can severely impact predictions of water resource system performance , Journal of Hydrology, 634, 130853.
• Zhu S., Maier H.R., Zecchin A.C., Thyer M.A. and Guillaume, J.H.A. (2024) Improved understanding of calibration efficiency, difficulty and parameter uniqueness of conceptual rainfall runoff models using fitness landscape metrics, Journal of Hydrology, 639, 131586.
• Huang J., Wu W., Maier H.R., Wang Q.J., Hughes J. (2024) A multi-objective optimization-based framework for extending reservoir service life in a changing world, Journal of Hydrology, 637, 131409.
• Partington, D., Thyer, M., Shanafield, M., McInerney, D., Westra, S., Maier, H., Simmons, C., Croke, B., Jakeman, A. J., Gupta, H., & Kavetski, D. (2022). Predicting wildfire induced changes to runoff: A review and synthesis of modeling approaches . WIREs Water, 9(5), e1599.

Other Key Publications

• Gibbs M.S., McInerney D., Humphrey G., Thyer M.A., Maier H.R., Dandy G.C. and Kavetski D. (2018) State updating and calibration period selection to improve dynamic monthly streamflow forecasts for an environmental flow management application, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 22(1), 871-887.
• Guo D., Westra S. and Maier H.R. (2017) Impact of evapotranspiration process representation on runoff projections from conceptual rainfall-runoff models, Water Resources Research, 53(1), 435-454.
• Wu W., Dandy G.C., Maier H.R., Maheepala S., Marchi A. and Mirza F. (2017) Identification of optimal water supply portfolios for a major city, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 143(9): 05017007.
• Guo D, Westra S. and Maier H.R. (2016)  An R package for modelling actual, potential and reference evapotranspiration , Environmental Modelling and Software, 78, 216-224. (R Package)
• Humphrey G.B., Gibbs M.S., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2016) A hybrid approach to monthly streamflow forecasting: integrating hydrological model outputs into a Bayesian artificial neural network, Journal of Hydrology, 540, 623-640.
• Newman J., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2014) Multiobjective optimization of cluster-scale urban water systems investigating alternative water sources and level of decentralization, Water Resources Research, 50(10), 7915-7938.
• Beh, E.H.Y., Dandy G.C., Maier H.R. and Paton F.L. (2014) Optimal sequencing of water supply options at the regional scale incorporating alternative water supply sources and multiple objectives, Environmental Modelling and Software, 53, 137-153.
• Partington D., Brunner P., Frei S., Simmons C.T., Werner A.D., Therrien R., Maier H.R., Dandy G.C. and Fleckenstein J. (2013) Interpreting streamflow generation mechanisms from integrated surface-subsurface flow models of a riparian wetland and catchment, Water Resources Research, 49(9), 5501-5519.
• Partington D., Brunner P., Simmons C.T., Therrien R., Werner A.D, Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2011)  A hydraulic mixing-cell method to quantify the groundwater component of streamflow within spatially distributed fully integrated surface water - groundwater flow models,  Environmental Modelling and Software, 26(7), 886-898.
• Gibbs M.S., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2010) Evaluation of Parameter Setting for Two GIS based Unit Hydrograph models, Journal of Hydrology, 393(3-4), 197-205.
• Bowden G.J., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2005) Input determination for neural network models in water resources applications: Part 2 - Case study: Forecasting salinity in a river. Journal of Hydrology, 301(1-4), 93-107.

• Maier H.R., Burch M.D. and Bormans M. (2001) Flow management strategies to control blooms of the cyanobacterium Anabaena circinalis in the River Murray at Morgan, South Australia. Regulated Rivers: Research and Management, 17(6), 637-650.

   

Water Supply

Selected Projects:

• Optimum control of chloramine in water distribution systems, $330,000, Water Research Australia, 2010-2012 (CI).

• Early warning of cyanobacteria blooms in drinking water reservoirs by means of evolutionary algorithms, 258,000, ARC Linkage Projects, 2009-2012 (CI).

• Development of tools for improved disinfection control, $402,000, CRC for Water Quality and Treatment, 2002-2005 (CI).

• Decision support system to maintain water quality in water distribution systems, $274,000, CRC for Water Quality and Treatment, 2002-2005 (CI).

• Desalination options for metropolitan Adelaide's water supply and implications for water resource allocation for regional communities, $175,270, ARC Linkage Projects, 2002-2004 (CI).

• Control of water treatment processes using artificial neural network modelling, $5,000, CRC for Water Quality and Treatment, 2001 (Lead CI).

• Optimisation of water distribution systems including the effects of uncertainty, $15,000, United Water, 2001 (Lead CI).

PhD Students:

• Peng Wang (2021) (Co-Supervisor) "A systematic investigation of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms applied to the water distribution system problem"

• Michael Di Matteo (2016) (Co-Supervisor) "Multiobjective planning and design of distributed stormwater harvesting and treatment systems through optimization and visual analytics"

• Weiwei Bi (2015) (Co-Supervisor) "Improved evolutionary algorithm optimisation of water distribution systems using domain knowledge"

• Chris Stokes (2014) (Co-Supervisor) "A Framework for the minimization of greenhouse gas emissions associated with water distribution systems considering the time-dependency of emissions factors associated with the generation of electricity"

• Darren Broad (2014) (Co-Supervisor) "Water distribution system optimisation using metamodels"

• Eva Beh (2014) (Principal Supervisor) "Optimal sequencing of water supply options incorporating sustainability and uncertainty"

• Fiona Paton (2014) (Principal Supervisor) "Frameworks for assessing and improving urban water supply security planning under climate change"

• Weyan Wu (2013) (Co-Supervisor) "Multiobjective genetic algorithm optimization of water distribution systems accounting for economic cost, greenhouse gas emissions and reliability"

• Robert May (2010) (Principal Supervisor) "Developing artificial neural network models for water quality modelling and prediction"

• Matt Gibbs (2008) (Principal Supervisor) "Real-coded genetic algorithm parameter setting for water distribution system optimisation"

Overview / Opionion Papers

• Cominola A., Preiss L., Thyer M. Maier H.R., Prevos P., Stewart R. and Castelletti A. (2023) The determinants of household water consumption: A review and assessment framework for research and practice, npj Clean Water, 6, 11.
• Jia Y., Zheng F., Maier H.R., Otsfeld A., Creaco E., Savic D., Langerveld J. and Kapelan Z. (2021) Water quality modelling in sewer networks: Review and future research directions, Water Research, 202 (2021) 117419.

Recent Publications

• Keenan C., Maier H.R., van Delden H. and Zecchin A.C. (2024) Bridging the cyber-physical divide: A novel approach for quantifying and visualising the cyber risk of physical assets , Water, 16(5), 637.
• Wang P., Zecchin A.C. and Maier H.R. (2023) Improved selection strategy for multi-objective evolutionary algorithms with application to water distribution optimization problems, Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, 38(10), 1290-1306.

Other Key Publications

• Cominola A., Nguyen K. Giuliani M., Stewart R.A., Maier H.R., Castelletti A. (2019) Data mining to uncover heterogeneous water use behaviors from smart meter data, Water Resources Research, 55, 9315-9333.
• Qi Z., Zheng F., Guo D., Zhang T., Shao Y., Yu T., Zhang K. and Maier H.R. (2018) A comprehensive framework to evaluate hydraulic and water quality impacts of pipe breaks on water distribution systems, Water Resources Research, 54(10), 8174-8195.
• Qi Z., Zheng F., Guo D., Maier H.R., Zhang T. and Yu T. (2018) Towards better understanding of the capacity of pressure sensor systems to detect pipe burst within water distribution networks, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 144(7), 04018035.
• Di Matteo M., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2017) Multi-objective optimization of distributed stormwater harvesting systems, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 143(6).
• Bi W., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2016) Use of domain knowledge to increase the convergence rate of evolutionary algorithms for optimizing the cost and resilience of water distribution systems, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 142(9).
• Wu W., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2015) Optimal control of total chlorine and free ammonia levels in a water transmission pipeline using artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms,  Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 141(7), 04014085.
• Wu W., Maier H.R. and Simpson A.R. (2013) Multiobjective optimization of water distribution systems accounting for economic cost, hydraulic reliability and greenhouse gas emissions, Water Resources Research, 49(3), 1211-1225.
• Wu W., Simpson A.R and Maier H.R. (2012) Sensitivity of optimal tradeoffs between cost and greenhouse gas emissions for water distribution systems to electricity tariff and generation, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 138(2), 182-186.
• Wu W., Maier H.R. and Simpson A.R. (2011) Surplus power factor as a network resilience measure for incorporating hydraulic reliability considerations into water transmission system optimization,  Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 137(6), 542-546.
• Gibbs M.S., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2010) Calibration and optimization of the pumping and disinfection of a real water supply system, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 136(4), 493-501.
• Broad D.R., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2010) Optimal operations of complex water distribution systems using metamodels, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 136(4), 433-443.
• May R.J., Dandy G.C., Maier H.R. and Nixon J.B. (2008) Application of partial mutual information variable selection to ANN forecasting of water quality in water distribution systems, Environmental Modelling and Software, 23(10-11), 1289-1299.
• Bowden G.J, Nixon J.B., Dandy G.C., Maier H.R. and Holmes M. (2006) Forecasting chlorine residuals in a water distribution system using a general regression neural network. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 44(5-6), 469-484.
• Zecchin A.C., Simpson A.R., Maier H.R., Leonard M., Roberts A.J. and Berrisford M.J. (2006) Application of two ant colony optimisation algorithms to water distribution system optimisation. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 44(5-6), 451-468.
• Gibbs M.S., Morgan N., Maier H.R., Dandy G.C., Nixon J.B. and Holmes M. (2006) Investigation into the relationship between chlorine decay and water distribution parameters using data driven methods. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 44(5-6), 485-498.
• Maier H.R., Morgan N. and Chow C.W.K. (2004) Use of artificial neural networks for predicting optimal alum doses and treated water quality parameters. Environmental Modelling and Software, 19(5), 485-494.
• Tolson B.A., Maier H.R., Simpson A.R. and Lence B.J. (2004) Genetic algorithms for reliability-based optimisation of water distribution systems. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 130(1), 63-72.

Climate Risk

Selected Projects

• Putting people at the centre: Towards transforming climate risk assessment for water security and delivery, $1,548,311, One Basin CRC, 2024-2027 (Lead CI).

• Application of the CRAFT framework to the Barossa prescribed water resources area, $362,686, SA Department for Environment and Water, 2021-2025 (CI).

• Better data-driven decision-making under future climate uncertainty, $319,235, Water Research Australia, 2016-2018 (CI).

• Development of an agreed set of climate projections for South Australia, $501,500, Goyder Institute for Water Resources (CI).

Selected Presentations

• Putting people at the centre: Towards transforming climate risk assessment for water security and delivery, Holger Maier, Water Talk, The Water Institute, The University of Waterloo, 2024.
• Overcoming Decision Paralysis when Dealing with Deep Uncertainty, Holger Maier, Invited Talk, Queensland Water Modelling Network, 2021.

Selected Professional Activities

• Member, Climate Science Advisory Committee, Coast Protection Board (South Australia), 2023-2025.

Software Tools

• ForeSIGHT: Systems Insights from Generation of Hydroclimatic Time Series
• RAPID (Robustness Analysis Producing Intelligent Decisions)

Additional Information

• Putting People First to Improve Water-Risk Assessments, Press Release, University of Adelaide, 2024.
• Mapping Realities: How a New Risk Assessment Approach Aims to Drive Critical Climate Planning and 'Difficult' Conversations Across the Basin, One Basin CCR Project Spotlight, 2024.
• New Approach to Empower Community Climate Response, Mallee Regional Innovation Centre Newsletter, 2025.
• Radio Interview, Holger Maier, ABC Riverland, 2024.

Selected PhD Students:

• Sam Culley (2019) (Co-Supervisor) "Improved implemenation of scenario-neutral climate impact assessments for water resource systems"
• Danlu Guo (2016) (Co-Supervisor) "Practical implementation of the scenario-neutral approach to climate impact assessments for hydrological systems"
• Fiona Paton (2014) (Principal Supervisor) "Frameworks for assessing and improving urban water supply security planning under climate change"

Overview / Opionion Papers

• Fowler K.J.A., McMahon T.A., Westra S., Horne A., Guillaume J.H.A., Guo D., Nathan R., Maier H.R. and John A.  (2024) Climate stress testing for water systems: Review and guide for applications, WIREs Water, e1747.

Selected Research Publications

• Leigh R., Westra S., Maier H.R., Knowling M.J., Culley S., Daniell K., Helfgott A., Kingsborough A., Brettig P. (2025) A framework for context-aware climate risk assessment , Journal of Hydrology, 662, 133871.
• Huang J., Wu W., Maier H.R., Wang Q.J., Hughes J. (2024) A multi-objective optimization-based framework for extending reservoir service life in a changing world, Journal of Hydrology, 637, 131409,  DOI:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.131409.
• McInerney D., Westra S., Leonard M., Bennett B., Thyer M. and Maier H.R. (2023) A climate stress testing method for changes in spatially variable rainfall, Journal of Hydrology, 625 (Part A),129876.
• Culley S., Westra S., Bennett B., Maier H.R.,Newman J., van der Linden L., Irvine M. (2021) Water security analysis of the Middle River supply system: a foreSIGHT application. Proceedings, 24th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 5 to 10 December 2021, 547-553
• Bennett B., Devanand A. Culley S., Westra S, Guo D. and Maier H.R. (2021) A modelling framework and R package for evaluating system performance under hydroclimate variability and change, Environmental Modelling and Software, 139, 104999.
• Culley S.A., Maier H.R., Westra S. and Bennett B. (2021) Identifying critical climate conditions for use in scenario-neutral climate impact assessments, Environmental Modelling and Software, 136, 104948.
• Culley S., Bennett B., Westra S. and Maier H.R. (2019) Generating realistic perturbed hydro-meteorological time series to inform scenario-neutral climate impact assessments, Journal of Hydrology, 576, 111-122.
• Guo D., Westra S. and Maier H.R. (2018) An inverse approach to perturb historical rainfall data for scenario-neutral climate impact studies , Journal of Hydrology, 556, 887-890.
• Guo D., Westra S. and Maier H.R. (2017) Use of a scenario-neutral approach to identify the key hydro-meteorological attributes that impact runoff from a natural catchment , Journal of Hydrology, 554, 317-330.
• Guo D., Westra S. and Maier H.R. (2017) Sensitivity of potential evapotranspiration to changes in climate variables for different Australian climatic zones, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 21(4), 2107-2126.
• Culley S., Noble S., Yates A., Timbs M., Westra S., Maier H.R., Giuliani M. and Castelletti, A. (2016) A bottom-up approach to identifying the maximum operational adaptive capacity of water resource systems to a changing climate, Water Resources Research, 52(9), 6751-6768.
• Paton F.L., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2014) Including adaptation and mitigation responses to climate change in a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm framework for urban water supply systems incorporating GHG emissions, Water Resources Research, 50(8), 6285-6304.
• Paton F.L., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2014) Integrated framework for assessing urban water supply security of systems with non-traditional sources under climate change, Environmental Modelling and Software, 60, 302-319.
• Paton F.L., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2013) Relative magnitudes of sources of uncertainty in assessing climate change impacts on water supply security for the southern Adelaide water supply system, Water Resources Research, 49(3), 1643-1667.
• Rowan T.S.C., Maier H.R., Connor J. and Dandy G.C.  (2011) An integrated dynamic modeling framework for investigating the impact of climate change and variability on irrigated agriculture, Water Resources Research, 47(7).

Renewable Energy Transition

Selected Projects

• Assessing the barriers to investability for bio-methane grid injection projects, $200,000, Future Fuels CRC, 2023-2025 (Lead CI).

• Integrated model for bio-methane injection in gas networks, $508,250, Future Fuels CRC, 2021-2025 (Lead CI).

• Assessment framework for bio-methane injection in gas networks, $188,000, Future Fuels CRC, 2019-2021 (Lead CI).

Presentations

• Where are the most investable biomethane projects sites in Australia?, Webinar, Sam Culley, Future Fuels CRC, 2025.
• Biomethane viability in Australia, Webinar, Sam Culley, Future Fuels CRC, 2024.
• Where are the most viable locations for bioenergy hubs across Australia?, Webinar, Sam Culley, Future Fuels CRC, 2022.

Decision Support / Software Tools

• Australian Biomethane Mapping Tool
• Integrated Biomethane Viability Assessment Tool and User Guide and Model Overview.
• Diagnostic Tool for Assessing and Increasing the Sustainability of Renewable Energy Projects.

Selected PhD Students:

• Aditi Rao (current) (Principal Supervisor) "Assessing the broader sustainaiblity impacts of renewable energy systems"
• Jing Tian (2025) (Principal Supervisor) "Quantitative framework to enable the sustainable renewable energy transition"
• Chris Stokes (2014) (Co-Supervisor) "A framework for the minimization of greenhouse gas emissions associated with water distribution systems considering the time-dependency of emissions factors associated with the generation of electricity"
• Wenyan Wu (2013) (Co-Supervisor) "Multiobjective genetic algorithm optimization of water distribution systems accounting for economic cost, greenhouse gas emissions and reliability"

Teaching / Training

• Maier H.R. and Culley S. (2023) Building capacity to achieve sustainable outcomes for wicked problems. In Vaze, J., Chilcott, C., Hutley, L. and Cuddy, S.M. (eds) MODSIM2023, 25th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand, July 2023, pp. 541-547. ISBN: 978-0-9872143-0-0.

Selected Research Publications

• Tian J., Culley S.A., Maier H.R., Zecchin A.C. and Hopeward J. (2024) Diagnostic Approach and Tool for Assessing and Increasing the Sustainability of Renewable Energy Projects. Sustainability, 16(24), 10871
• Tian J., Culley S.A., Maier H.R. and Zecchin A.C. (2024) Is renewable energy sustainable? Potential relationships between renewable energy production and the Sustainable Development Goals, npj Climate Action, 3, 35.
• Hosseini T., Culley S.A.., Zecchin A., Maier H.R. and Ashman P.J. (2024) Impact of co-digestion and degree of centralization on the yield and viability of biomethane production: A case study in regional Australia, Energy Conversion and Management X, 22, 100585.
• Giudicianni C., Mitrovic D., Wu W., Ferrarese G., Pugliese F., Garcìa I.F., Campisano A., De Paola F., Malavasi S., Maier H.R., Savic D. and Creaco E. (2023) Energy recovery strategies in water distribution networks: Literature review and future directions in the net-zero transition, Urban Water Journal, 21(10), 1185-1200.
• Wu W., Maier H.R., Dandy G.C., Arora M. and Castelletti A. (2020) The changing nature of the water-energy nexus in urban water supply systems: A critical review of changes and responses, Journal of Water and Climate Change, 11(4), 1095-1122.
• Stokes C.S., Maier H.R. and Simpson A.R. (2015) Water distribution system pumping operational greenhouse gas emissions minimization by considering time-dependent emissions factors, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 141(7), 04014088.
• Stokes C.S., Simpson A.R. and Maier H.R. (2015) A computational software tool for the minimization of costs and greenhouse gas emissions associated with water distribution systems, Environmental Modelling and Software, 69, 452-467.
• Stokes C.S., Simpson A.R. and Maier H.R. (2014) The Cost - Greenhouse Gas Emission Nexus for Water Distribution Systems including the Consideration of Energy Generating Infrastructure: An Integrated Optimization Framework and Review of Literature, Earth Perspectives 2014, 1:9.
• Wu W., Maier H.R. and Simpson A.R. (2010) Single-objective versus multi-objective optimisation of water distribution systems accounting for greenhouse gas emissions by carbon pricing, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 136(5), 555-565.
• Wu W., Simpson A.R. and Maier H.R. (2010)  Accounting for greenhouse gas emissions in multi-objective genetic algorithm optimization of water distribution systems, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 136(2), 146-155.

Machine Learning / AI

Selected Projects

• New Techniques in Optimisation, Modelling and Decision Support, $566,560, eWater CRC, 2006-2010 (CI).

• New techniques for artifical neural network modelling in hydrology, $132,984, ARC Discovery Projects, 2003-2004 (Lead CI).

• Control of water treatment processes using artificial neural network modelling, $5,000, CRC for Water Quality and Treatment, 2001 (Lead CI).

Software Tools

• validann: Validation tools for artificial neural networks (R Package)
• Neural Network MS Excel Add-In and underpinning C++ Code
• Partial Mutual Information (PMI) Input Variable Selection (IVS) Code

Additional Information

• XAI benefits to hydrological modelling obscured by hype, Press Release, University of Adelaide, 2024.
• Rethinking the role of explainable AI in hydrological modelling, Journal of Hydrology X Feature Article, 2024.

Selected PhD Students

• Xuyuan Li (2014) (Principal Supervisor) "Improving partial mutual information based input variable selection for data driven environmental and water resources models"
• Robert May (2010) (Principal Supervisor) "Developing artificial neural network models for water quality modelling and prediction"
• Greer Kingston (Humphrey) (2006) (Prinicipal Supervisor) "Bayesian artificial neural networks in water resources engineering"
• Gavin Bowden (2002) (Co-Supervisor) "Forecasting water resources variables using artificial neural networks"

Overview / Opionion Papers

• Maier H.R., Taghikhah F., Nabavi E., Razavi S., Gupta H., Wu W., Radford D.A.G. and Huang J. (2024) How much X is in XAI: Responsible use of "explainable" artificial intelligence in hydrology and water resources, Journal of Hydrology X, 25, 100185.
• Maier H.R., Galelli S., Razavi S., Castelletti A., Rizzoli A., Athanasiadis I.A., Sànchez-Marrè M., Acutis M., Wu W. and Humphrey G.B. (2023) Exploding the myths: an introduction to artificial neural networks for prediction and forecasting, Environmental Modelling and Software, 167, 105776.
• Mount N.J., Maier H.R., Toth E., Elshorbagy A., Solomatine D., Chang F.-J. and Abrahart R.J. Data-driven modelling approaches for social-hydrology: Opportunities and challenges within the Panta Rhei Science Plan, Hydrological Sciences Journal, 61(7), 1192-1208.
• Wu W., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2014) Protocol for developing ANN models and its application to the assessment of the quality of the ANN model development process in drinking water quality modeling, Environmental Modelling and Software, 54, 108-127.
• Maier, H.R., Jain A., Dandy, G.C. and Sudheer, K.P. (2010) Methods used for the development of neural networks for the prediction of water resource variables in river systems: Current status and future directions, Environmental Modelling & Software, 25(8), 891-909.
• Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2001) Neural network based modelling of environmental variables: a systematic approach. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 33(6-7), 669-682.
• Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2000) Neural networks for the prediction and forecasting of water resources variables: a review of modelling issues and applications , Environmental Modelling and Software, 15(1), 101-124.

Recent Publications

• Radford D., Maier H.R., van Delden H., Zecchin A.C., Jeanneau A. (2024) Predicting burn probability: Dimensionality reduction strategies enable accurate and computationally efficient metamodeling, Journal of Environmetnal Management, 371, 123086.
• Chen J., Zheng F., May R.J., Guo D., Gupta H.V. and Maier H.R. (2022) Improved data splitting methods for data-driven hydrological model development based on a large number of catchment samples, Journal of Hydrology, 613 (Part A), 128340.
• Zhu S., Zecchin A.C. and Maier H.R. (2022) Use of exploratory fitness landscape metrics to better understand the impact of model structure on the difficulty of calibrating artificial neural network models, Journal of Hydrology, 612 (Part A), 128093.

Other Key Publications

• Hunter J.M., Maier H.R., Gibbs M.S., Foale E.R., Grosvenor N.A., Harders N.P. and Kikuchi-Miller T.C. (2018) Framework for developing hybrid process-driven, artificial neural network and regression models for salinity prediction in river systems, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 22(5), 2987-3006.
• Zheng F., Maier H.R., Wu W., Dandy G.C., Gupta H.V. and Zhang T. (2018) On lack Of robustness In hydrological model development due to absence of guidelines for selecting calibration and evaluation data: Demonstration for data driven models, Water Resources Research, 54(2), 1013-1030.
• Humphrey G.B., Maier H.R., Wu W., Mount N.J., Dandy G.C., Abrahart R.J. and Dawson C.W. (2017) Improved validation framework and R-package for artificial neural network models, Environmental Modelling and Software, 92, 82-106.
• Beh E.H.Y., Zheng F., Dandy G.C., Maier H.R. and Kapelan Z. (2017) Robust optimization of water infrastructure planning under deep uncertainty using metamodels, Environmental Modelling and Software, 93, 92-105.
• Humphrey G.B., Gibbs M.S., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2016) A hybrid approach to monthly streamflow forecasting: integrating hydrological model outputs into a Bayesian artificial neural network, Journal of Hydrology, 540, 623-640.
• Li X., Maier H.R. and Zecchin A.C. (2015) Improved PMI-based input variable selection approach for artificial neural network and other data driven environmental and water resource models, Environmental Modelling and Software, 65, 15-29.
• Li X., Zecchin A.C. and Maier H.R. (2014) Selection of smoothing parameter estimators for General Regression Neural Networks - applications to hydrological and water resources modelling, Environmental Modelling and Software, 59, 162-186.
• Galelli S., Humphrey G.B., Maier H.R., Castelletti A., Dandy G.C. and Gibbs M.S. (2014) An evaluation framework for input variable selection algorithms for environmental data-driven models, Environmental Modelling and Software, 62, 33-51.
• Wu W., May R.J., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.G. (2013) A benchmarking approach for comparing data splitting methods for modeling water resources parameters using artificial neural networks, Water Resources Research, 49(11), 7598-7614.
• Bowden G.J., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2012) Real-time deployment of artificial neural network forecasting models - understanding the range of applicability, Water Resources Research, 48(10).
• May R.J., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2010) Data splitting for artificial neural netowrks using SOM-based stratified sampling, Neural Networks, 23(2), 283-294.
• Fernando T.M.K.G., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2009) Selection of input variables for data driven models: An average shifted histogram partial mutual information estimator approach, Journal of Hydrology, 367(3-4), 165-176.
• May R.J., Maier H.R., Dandy G.C. and Fernando T.M.K.G. (2008) Non-linear variable selection for artificial neural networks using partial mutual information. Environmental Modelling and Software, 23(10-11), 1312-1326.
• Kingston G.B., Maier H.R. and Lambert M.F. (2008) Bayesian model selection applied to artificial neural networks used for water resources modeling, Water Resources Research, 44(4), W04419.
• Kingston G.B., Maier H.R. and Lambert M.F. (2006) A probabilistic method to assist knowledge extraction from artificial neural networks used for hydrological prediction. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 44(5-6), 499-512.
• Kingston G.B., Lambert M.F and Maier H.R. (2005) Bayesian training of artificial neural networks used for water resources modeling. Water Resources Research, 41(12), W12409.
• Kingston G.B., Maier H.R. and Lambert M.F. (2005) Calibration and validation of neural networks to ensure physically plausible hydrological modeling. Journal of Hydrology, 314(1-4), 158-176.
• Bowden G.J., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2005) Input determination for neural network models in water resources applications: Part 1 - Background and methodology. Journal of Hydrology, 301(1-4), 75-92.
• Bowden G.J., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2002) Optimal division of data for neural network models in water resources applications. Water Resources Research, 38(2), 2.1-2.11.
• Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (1998) The effect of internal parameters and geometry on the performance of back-propagation neural networks: an empirical study. Environmental Modelling and Software, 13(2), 193-209.
• Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (1998) Understanding the behaviour and optimising the performance of back-propagation neural networks: an empirical study. Environmental Modelling and Software, 13(2), 179-191.
• Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (1996) The use of artificial neural networks for the prediction of water quality parameters. Water Resources Research, 32(4), 1013-1022.

Optimisation

Selected Projects:

• Optimal water resources mix for metropolitan Adelaide, 384,000, Goyder Institute for Water Resources, 2012-2013 (CI)

• Riverine recovery optimisation, $104,928, SA Department for the Environment, Water and Natural Resources, 2012-2013 (Lead CI)Optimum control of chloramine in water distribution systems, $330,000, Water Research Australia, 2010-2012 (CI).

• Early warning of cyanobacteria blooms in drinking water reservoirs by means of evolutionary algorithms, 258,000, ARC Linkage Projects, 2009-2012 (CI).

• Innovative approach to the optimal management of water resources and application to the Upper South East Region of South Australia, $600,000, ARC Linkage Projects, 2006-2010 (Lead CI)

• Development of tools for improved disinfection control, $402,000, CRC for Water Quality and Treatment, 2002-2005 (CI).

• Decision support system to maintain water quality in water distribution systems, $274,000, CRC for Water Quality and Treatment, 2002-2005 (CI).

• Desalination options for metropolitan Adelaide's water supply and implications for water resource allocation for regional communities, $175,270, ARC Linkage Projects, 2002-2004 (CI).

• Optimisation of water distribution systems including the effects of uncertainty, $15,000, United Water, 2001 (Lead CI).

Software Tools

• Water System Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm (WSMGA) with wrapper and analytics (based on NSGAII)

Selected PhD Students:

• Siwei Zhu (2022) (Principal Supervisor) "Understanding the problem structure of optimisation problems in water resources"

• Peng Wang (2021) (Co-Supervisor) "A systematic investigation of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms applied to the water distribution system problem"

• Michael Di Matteo (2016) (Co-Supervisor) "Multiobjective planning and design of distributed stormwater harvesting and treatment systems through optimization and visual analytics"

• Weiwei Bi (2015) (Co-Supervisor) "Improved evolutionary algorithm optimisation of water distribution systems using domain knowledge"

• Hiep Nguyen (2015) (Principal Supervisor) "Optimal water allocation and scheduling for irrigation using ant colony algorithms"

• Chris Stokes (2014) (Co-Supervisor) "A Framework for the minimization of greenhouse gas emissions associated with water distribution systems considering the time-dependency of emissions factors associated with the generation of electricity"

• Darren Broad (2014) (Co-Supervisor) "Water distribution system optimisation using metamodels"

• Eva Beh (2014) (Principal Supervisor) "Optimal sequencing of water supply options incorporating sustainability and uncertainty"

• Fiona Paton (2014) (Principal Supervisor) "Frameworks for assessing and improving urban water supply security planning under climate change"

• Joanna Szemis (2014) (Co-Supervisor) "An adaptive multi-objective framework for the scheduling of environmental flow management alternatives using ant colony optimization"

• Weyan Wu (2013) (Co-Supervisor) "Multiobjective genetic algorithm optimization of water distribution systems accounting for economic cost, greenhouse gas emissions and reliability"

• Matt Gibbs (2008) (Principal Supervisor) "Real-coded genetic algorithm parameter setting for water distribution system optimisation"

• Wai Kuan Foong (2007) (Principal Supervisor) "Ant colony optimisation for power plant maintenance scheduling"

Overview / Opionion Papers

• Maier H.R., Razavi S., Kapelan Z., Matott L.S., Kasprzyk J. and Tolson B.A. (2019) Introductory overview: Optimization using evolutionary algorithms and other metaheuristics,  Environmental Modelling and Software, 114, 195-213.
• Maier H.R., Kapelan Z., Kasprzyk J., Kollat J., Matott L.S., Cunha M.C., Dandy G.C., Gibbs M.S., Keedwell E., Marchi A., Ostfeld A., Savic D., Solomatine D.P., Vrugt J.A., Zecchin A.C., Minsker B.S., Barbour E.J., Kuczera G., Pasha F., Castelletti A., Giuliani M. and Reed P.M. (2014) Evolutionary algorithms and other metaheuristics in water resources: Current status, research challenges and future directions, Environmental Modelling and Software, 62, 271-299.

Recent Publications

• Improved data splitting methods for data-driven hydrological model development based on a large number of catchment samples, Journal of Hydrology, 613 (Part A), 128340.
• Zhu S., Zecchin A.C. and Maier H.R. (2022) Use of exploratory fitness landscape metrics to better understand the impact of model structure on the difficulty of calibrating artificial neural network models, Journal of Hydrology, 612 (Part A), 128093.

Other Key Publications

• Zheng F., Zecchin A.C., Newman J.P., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C.(2017) An adaptive convergence-trajectory controlled ant colony optimization algorithm with application to water distribution system design problems, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 21(5), 773-791.
• Golding P., Kapadia S., Naylor S., Schulz J., Maier H.R., Lall U. and van der Velde, M. (2017) Framework for minimising the impact of regional shocks on global food security using multi-objective ant colony optimisation, Environmental Modelling and Software, 95, 303-319.
• Nguyen D.C.H., Ascough II J.C., Maier H.R., Dandy G.C. and Andales A.A. Optimization of irrigation scheduling using Ant Colony algorithms and an advanced cropping system model, Environmental Modelling and Software, 97, 32-45, DOI:10.1016/j.envsoft.2017.07.002.
• Bi W., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2016) Impact of starting position and searching mechanism on evolutionary algorithm convergence rate, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 142(9), 04016026.
• Bi W., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2016) Use of domain knowledge to increase the convergence rate of evolutionary algorithms for optimizing the cost and resilience of water distribution systems, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 142(9), 04016027.
• Zheng F., Zecchin A.C., Maier H.R. and Simpson A.R. (2016) Comparison of the searching behavior of NSGA-II, SAMODE and Borg MOEAs applied to water distribution system design problems, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 142(7), 04016017.
• Wu W., Maier H.R., Dandy G.C., Leonard R., Bellette K., Cuddy S. and Maheepala S. (2016) Including stakeholder input in formulating and solving real-world optimisation problems: generic framework and case study, Environmental Modelling and Software, 79, 197-213.
• Nguyen D.C.H., Maier H.R., Dandy G.C. and Ascough II, J.C. (2016) Framework for computationally efficient optimal crop and water allocation using ant colony optimization, Environmental Modelling and Software, 76, 37-53.
• Bi W., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2015) Improved genetic algorithm optimization of water distribution system design by incorporating domain knowledge, Environmental Modelling and Software, 69, 370-381.
• Gibbs M.S., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2015) Using characteristics of the optimisation problem to determine genetic algorithm population size when evaluation number is limited, Environmental Modelling and Software, 69, 226-239.
• Szemis J.M., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2014) An adaptive ant colony optimization framework for scheduling environmental flow management alternatives under varied environmental water availability conditions, Water Resources Research, 50(10), 7606-7625.
• Szemis J.M., Dandy G.G. and Maier H.R. (2013) A multi-objective ant colony optimization approach for scheduling environmental flow management alternatives with applications to the River Murray, Australia, Water Resources Research, 49(10), 6393-6411.
• Zecchin A.C., Simpson A.R., Maier H.R., Marchi A. and Nixon J.B. (2012) Improved understanding of the searching behaviour of ant colony optimization algorithms applied to the water distribution design problem, Water Resources Research, 48(9).
• Szemis J.M., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2012) A framework for using ant colony optimization to schedule environmental flow management alternatives for rivers, wetlands and floodplains, Water Resources Research, 48(8).
• Gibbs M.S., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2011) Relationship between problem characteristics and the optimal number of genetic algorithm generations, Engineering Optimization, 43(4), 349-376.
• Gibbs M.S., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2010) Comparison of genetic algorithm parameter setting methods for chlorine injection optimization, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 136(2), 288-291.
• Tolson B.A., Asadzadeh M., Maier H.R. and Zecchin A. (2009) Hybrid discrete dynamically dimensioned search (HD-DDS) algorithm for water distribution system design optimization, Water Resources Research, 45(12), W12416.
• Gibbs M.S., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R. (2008) A genetic algorithm calibration method based on convergence due to genetic drift. Information Sciences, 178(14), 2857-2869.
• Foong W.K., Maier H.R. and Simpson A.R. (2008) Power plant maintenance scheduling using ant colony optimisation: an improved formulation. Engineering Optimization, 40(4), 309-329.
• Foong W.K., Simpson A.R., Maier H.R. and Stolp S. (2008) Ant colony optimization for power plant maintenance scheduling optimization: a five-station hydropower system. Annals of Operations Research, 159(1), 433-450.
• Zecchin A.R., Maier H.R., Simpson A.R., Leonard M. and Nixon J.B. (2007) Ant colony optimisation algorithms applied to water distribution systems design: Comparative study of five algorithms . Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, ASCE, 133(1), 87-92.
• Zecchin A.C., Simpson A.R., Maier H.R. and Nixon J.B. (2005) Parametric study for an ant algorithm applied to water distribution system optimisation. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 9(2), 175-191.
• Maier H.R., Simpson A.R., Zecchin A.C. Foong W.K., Phang K.Y., Seah H.Y. and Tan C.L. (2003) Ant colony optimisation for design of water distribution systems . Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, ASCE, 129(3), 200-209.

Sustainable Decision Making Under Uncertainty

Selected Projects

• Development of decision support frameworks for water resource management in the South East, $198,000, Goyder Institute for Water Resources, 2011-2012 (CI).

• New Techniques in Optimisation, Modelling and Decision Support, $566,560, eWater CRC, 2006-2010 (CI).

• Innovative approach to the optimal management of water resources and application to the Upper South East Region of South Australia, $500,000, ARC Linkage Projects, 2006-2010 (Lead CI).

• Sensitivity Analysis of Models used to predict the effects of Policy Decisions on salinity levels in the River Murray, $95,370, Centre for Natural Resources Management, 2006-2007 (Lead CI).

• New approach to sensitivity assessment of complex simulation models for environmental management, $372,200, ARC Linkage Projects, 2004-2007 (CI).

Selected Presentations

• Putting people at the centre: Towards transforming climate risk assessment for water security and delivery, Holger Maier, Water Talk, The Water Institute, The University of Waterloo, 2024.
• Overcoming Decision Paralysis when Dealing with Deep Uncertainty, Holger Maier, Invited Talk, Queensland Water Modelling Network, 2021.

Selected PhD Students:

• Jiajia Huang (2025) (Co-Supervisor) "Reservoir management under long-term uncertainty"
• Cameron McPhail (2020) (Principal Supervisor) "Towards a better understanding of scenarios and robustness for the long-term planning of water and environmental systems"
• Eva Beh (2014) (Principal Supervisor) "Optimal sequencing of water supply options incorporating sustainability and uncertainty"
• Kylie Hyde (2006) (Principal Supervisor) "Uncertainty analysis methods for multi-criteria decision analysis"

Overview / Opionion Papersns

• Maier H.R., Guillaume J.H.A., van Delden H., Riddell G.A., Haasnoot M. and Kwakkel J.H.  (2016) An uncertain future, deep uncertainty, scenarios, robustness and adaptation: How do they fit together?, Environmental Modelling and Software, 81, 154-164.
• Ascough II J.C., Maier H.R., Ravalico J.K and Strudley M.W. (2008) Future research challenges for incorporation of uncertainty in environmental and ecological decision-making . Ecological Modelling, 219(3-4), 383-399.

Selected Research Publications

• Huang J., Sangiorgio M., Wu W., Maier H.R., Wang Q.J., Hughes J., Castelletti A. (2025) Solving the robustness puzzle: The joint impact of optimization approach, robustness metrics, and scenarios on water resources manangement under deep uncertainty, Journal of Environmental Management, 373(1), 123540.
• McPhail C., Maier H.R., Westra S., van der Linden L. (2022) Making sense of scenario techniques and robustness metrics for decision making under deep uncertainty. 11th International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, Brussels, Belgium, Ann van Griensven, Jiri Nossent, Stefan Reis (Eds.).
• Maier H.R.,Guillaume J.H.A., McPhail C., Westra S., Kwakkel J.H., Razavi J., van Delden H., Thyer M.A., Culley S.A., Jakeman A.J. (2021) Uncertainty, sensitivity and scenario analysis: how do they fit together? . Proceedings, 24th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 5 to 10 December 2021, 554-560.
• McPhail C., Maier H.R., Westra S, van der Linden L. and Kwakkel J.H. (2021) Guidance framework and software for understanding and achieving system robustness, Environmental Modelling and Software, 142, 105059.
• McPhail C., Maier H.R., Westra S., Kwakkel J.H. and van der Linden L. (2020) Impact of scenario selection on robustness, Water Resources Research, 56(9), e2019WR026515.
• Guidici F., Castelletti A., Giuliani M. and Maier H.R. (2020) An active learning approach for identifying the smallest subset of informative scenarios for robust planning under deep uncertainty, Environmental Modelling and Software, 127(5), 104681.
• McPhail C., Maier H.R., Kwakkel J.H., Giuliani M., Castelletti A. and Westra S. (2018) Robustness metrics: How are they calculated, when should they be used and why do they give different results?, Earth's Future, 6(2), 169-191.
• Beh E.H.Y., Zheng F., Dandy G.C., Maier H.R. and Kapelan Z. (2017) Robust optimization of water infrastructure planning under deep uncertainty using metamodels, Environmental Modelling and Software, 93, 92-105.
• Ganji A., Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2016) A modified Sobol' sensitivity analysis method for decision-making in environmental problems, Environmental Modelling and Software, 75, 15-27.
• Beh E.H.Y, Maier H.R. and Dandy G.C. (2015) Adaptive, multi-objective optimal sequencing approach for urban water supply augmentation under deep uncertainty, Water Resources Research, 51(3), 1529-1551.
• Ravalico J.K., Dandy G.C. and Maier H.R.  (2010) Management option rank equivalence (MORE) - A new method of sensitivity analysis for decision-making, Environmental Modelling & Software, 25(2), 171-181.
• Ravalico J.K., Maier H.R and Dandy G.C (2009) Sensitivity analysis for decision-making using the MORE method - A Pareto approach, Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 94(7), 1133-1244.
• Hyde K.M. and Maier H.R. (2006) Distance-based and stochastic uncertainty analysis for multi-criteria decision analysis in Excel using visual basic for applications. Environmental Modelling and Software, 21(12), 1695-1710.
• Hyde K.M., Maier H.R. and Colby C.B. (2005) A distance-based uncertainty analysis approach to multi-criteria decision analysis for water resource decision making, Journal of Environmental Management, 77(4), 278-290.
• Hyde K.M., Maier H.R. and Colby C. (2004) Reliability-based approach to multi-criteria decision analysis for water resources. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, ASCE, 130(6), 429-438.
• Maier H.R., Kingston G.B., Clark T., Frazer A. and Sanderson A. (2004) Risk-based approach for assessing the effectiveness of flow management in controlling cyanobacterial blooms in rivers, River Research and Applications, 20(4), 459-471.
• Hyde K.M., Maier H.R and Colby C. (2003) Incorporating uncertainty in the PROMETHEE MCDA Method. Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, 12(4-5), 245-259.
• Maier H.R., Lence B.J., Tolson B.A. and Foschi R.O. (2001) First-order reliability method for estimating reliability, vulnerability and resilience. Water Resources Research, 37(3), 779-790.

Environmental Modelling and Management

Selected Projects

• Improved modelling of the catchments and drainage network in the upper south east for management outcomes, $179,267, Goyder Institute for Water Resources,2012-2014 (CI)

• Evaluation and application of Source Rivers modelling framework to the South Australian reacheas of the River Murray, $80,350, SA Department for Water, 2011 (Lead CI)

• New Techniques in Optimisation, Modelling and Decision Support, $566,560, eWater CRC, 2006-2010 (CI).

• Innovative approach to the optimal management of water resources and application to the Upper South East Region of South Australia, $500,000, ARC Linkage Projects, 2006-2010 (Lead CI).

• Sensitivity Analysis of Models used to predict the effects of Policy Decisions on salinity levels in the River Murray, $95,370, Centre for Natural Resources Management, 2006-2007 (Lead CI).

• New approach to sensitivity assessment of complex simulation models for environmental management, $372,200, ARC Linkage Projects, 2004-2007 (CI).

Software Tools

• Data Splitting Algorithms for Model Development (DSAM) (R Package)

Selected PhD Students:

• Cameron McPhail (2020) (Principal Supervisor) "Towards a better understanding of scenarios and robustness for the long-term planning of water and environmental systems"
• Kylie Hyde (2006) (Principal Supervisor) "Uncertainty analysis methods for multi-criteria decision analysis"
• Greer Kingston (Humphrey) (2006) (Prinicipal Supervisor) "Bayesian artificial neural networks in water resources engineering"
• Gavin Bowden (2002) (Co-Supervisor) "Forecasting water resources variables using artificial neural networks"

Selected Overview Publications

• Razavi S., Jakeman A., Saltelli A., Prieur C., Iooss B., Borgonovo E., Plischke E., Lo Piano S., Iwanaga T., Becker W., Tarantola S., Guillaume J.H.A., Jakeman J., Gupta H., Melillo N., Rabitti G., Chabridon V., Duan Q., Sun X., Smith S., Sheikholeslami R., Hosseini N., Asadzadeh M., Puy A., Sergei Kucherenko S., Maier H.R. (2021) The future of sensitivity analysis: An essential discipline for systems modeling and policy support, Environmental Modelling and Software, 137, 104954.
• Argent R.M., Sojda R.S., Guipponi C., McIntosh B., Voinov A.A. and Maier H.R. (2016) Best practices for conceptual modelling in environmental planning and management, Environmental Modelling and Software, 80, 113-121.

Selected Research Publications

• Ji Y., Zheng F., Wen J., Li Q., Chen J., Maier H.R. and Gupta H.V. Gupta. (2025) An R package to partition observation data used for model development and evaluation to achieve model generalizability, Environmental Modelling & Software, 183, 106238.
• Maier H.R., Zheng F, Gupta H., Chen J., Mai J., Savic D., Loritz R., Wu W., Guo D., Bennett A., Jakeman A., Razavi S., Zhao J. (2023) On how data are partitioned in model development and evaluation: confronting the elephant in the room to enhance model generalization, Environmental Modelling and Software,167, 105779.
• Zheng F., Chen J., Ma Y., Chen Q., Maier H.R. and Gupta H. (2023) A robust strategy to account for data sampling variability in the development of hydrological models, Water Resources Research, 59(3), e2022WR033703.
• Vilas M.P., Egger F., Adams M.P., Maier H.R., Robson B., Mestres J.F., Stewart L., Maxwell P. and O'Brien K.R. (2023) TALKS: A systematic framework for resolving model-data discrepancies, Environmental Modelling and Software, 163, 105668.
• Zheng F., Chen J., Maier H.R. and Gupta H. (2022) Achieving robust and transferable performance for conservation-based models of dynamical physical systems, Water Resources Research, 58(5), 17406751.
• Guo D., Zheng F., Gupta H.V., Maier H.R. (2020) On the robustness of conceptual rainfall-runoff models to calibration and evaluation dataset splits selection: A large sample investigation, Water Resources Research, 56(3), e2019WR026752.
• Zheng F., Maier H.R., Wu W., Dandy G.C., Gupta H.V. and Zhang T. (2018) On lack Of robustness In hydrological model development due to absence of guidelines for selecting calibration and evaluation data: Demonstration for data driven models, Water Resources Research, 54(2), 1013-1030.
• Kelly (Letcher) R.A., Jakeman A.J., Barreteau O., Borsuk M.E., ElSawah S., Hamilton S.H., Henriksen H.J., Kuikka S., Maier H.R., Rizzoli A.E., vanDelden H. and Voinov A.A. (2013) Selecting among five common modelling approaches for integrated environmental assessment and management, Environmental Modelling and Software, 47, 159-181.

Teaching / Training

• Maier H.R. (2023) Developing complex environmental modelling skills through project-centric teaching . In Vaze, J., Chilcott, C., Hutley, L. and Cuddy, S.M. (eds) MODSIM2023, 25th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand, July 2023, pp. 534-540. ISBN: 978-0-9872143-0-0.