From 1999-2004 Petra was the Managing Director of Globus – Institute for Globalization and Sustainable Development, and of Telos – Brabant Centre for Sustainability Issues, both located at Tilburg University. Before that, from 1996-1999, she worked as a Project Manager at CentER for Economic Research, also at Tilburg University.
In 2004 Petra started her own company called “Protipico Project Management”, based in Rotterdam. She organized and managed events and projects that deal with peace related issues, sustainability, and arts. She worked for (a.o.) the Dutch foundation Alliance for the University for Peace, Finance for Projects, the Dutch Museum for Peace and Non-Violence, and EconoVision. Besides this business she set up several cultural projects in Rotterdam-North.
Petra started her career as a physiotherapist. After several years as a private practitioner in Tilburg she moved to Amsterdam to study medical sociology, and in 1992 she did her thesis on the care for homeless people. After her graduation she worked for some years in Utrecht as a researcher in the field of public health, in particular on care arrangements for mentally handicapped people (at NIZW) and for homeless people (at the Trimbos Institute).