The research goal of Monica Liu has been and still is to combine math, data analytics and machine learning in modelling and predicting systemic risks threatening sustainable cities. By combining risk modelling and intelligent technology, Monica Liu hopes to help identify structural features, common patterns and early warning signs of systemic risks.

She has published extensively on journals, conferences and books in the aforementioned topics, and has received more than twenty research grants from various funding agencies. Liu currently serves as guest editor, co-chairs, program committee members and panel organizers on international conferences.
Over the years, Monica Liu collaborated with domain experts from more than 20 countries to provide policy advices and solutions in the area of Digitalization and Risk Prediction. Her research outcome has been adopted by international organizations such as the UNDP, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the US National Committee on US-China Relations, US Government International Affairs Committee, and The Red Cross Society. Her policy advices were also adopted by government bodies such as the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Civil Affairs, National Earthquake Administration, National Search and Rescue Center, National Information Center and Shanghai Municipal Government in China. She also provided consulting services to Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Before coming to RIFS, Monica Liu worked as an associate professor and the Founding Director of the Research Institute of Intelligent Complex System (RIICS) at Fudan University. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Information Sciences from University of Washington in 2009.