Research Fellow
PhD MSc BAppSc
Petra began working in the field of cerebral palsy as a clinician in her native Sweden in 1996 before working in a similar position at Australia’s Cerebral Palsy Alliance.
Since 2009 Petra has worked at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute where she coordinates and supports the establishment, maintenance and execution of research within the CP Check-Up™ program; an active surveillance program that utilizes a variety of assessments to collect information across many aspects of a person’s life including physical status, functional abilities, cognitive abilities, health and well-being.
Petra was awarded her PhD from the Western Sydney University in 2014, for which she was the recipient of the Spastic Centre Postgraduate Research Award for Doctoral Studies, investigating family-centred assistive technology service provision for school aged children with cerebral palsy. Since then, she has been collaborating with national and international researchers in finding novel ways to use assistive technology to support communication, cognitive assessment and functioning in daily activities for individuals with cerebral palsy.
Research Interests
- Implementation of active surveillance that aims to provide timely interventions and reduce the rates of secondary conditions in cerebral palsy
- Assistive technology
- Novel access solutions to communication
Funding
- 2015-2017 The Roger Montgomery Family Trust: $202,000. Eye gaze technology for young children with cerebral palsy
- 2014 Clayton Utz: $140,000. Cerebral Palsy Alliance active surveillance program: CP Check-UpTM
- 2013 UBank: $100,000. Cerebral Palsy Alliance active surveillance program: CP Check-UpTM
- 2009 The Spastic Centre Postgraduate Research Award for Doctoral Studies
Publication in Peer Reviewed Journal
View Petra’s profile and publications on Google Scholar.