Helena has a wide national and international R&D experience on urban water systems, particularly in the fields of performance assessment and strategic asset management; she led the team who developed the IWA PI system, as well as the team who developed the Portuguese national regulatory system for quality of services assessment. Helena has had multiple roles within IWA: member of the IWA Strategic Council, chair of the IWA Strategic Asset Management Specialist Group and Management Committee Member of the Benchmarking and Performance Assessment Specialist Group; she is series editor (with Enrique Cabrera) of the Manuals of Best Practice of IWA Publishing and member of the editorial Board of the Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology—AQUA. She was IWA senior vice-president in 2010-2012. Helena also received the 2016 Outstanding Contribution to Water Management & Science Award. In 2022, she was nominated Distinguished Fellow and she also received the IWA Honorary Membership award.