Petra is a graduate environmental engineer who has held a keen passion for the environment from a young age. Through seeing her local awa degrade over her childhood she decided to pursue a career where she could make meaningful impact. She studied a Bachelor of Engineering (Honors) and a Bachelor of Science at the University of Auckland, specialising in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geography.

Petra undertook a conjoint degree at university to gain a holistic understanding of environmental issues and management, largely focussing on freshwater and harnessing indigenous knowledge in environmental design. She now works across a range of stream works, water quality and fluvial geomorphology projects at Morphum.