Petra Heck

Dr. Petra Heck is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of ICT, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, specializing in AI Engineering and Machine Learning. She obtained her MSc in Computer Science from TU Eindhoven (2011) and a PhD in Software Engineering from TU Delft (2016) focusing on 'Quality of Just-in-Time Requirements'.

• Academic Roles: Lecturer in Software Engineering (2012-2016), Senior Researcher in AI & Big Data lectorate (2016-present)
• Research Focus: Building production-ready machine learning systems, with a postdoctoral focus (2019-2021) on practical ML engineering challenges.

Her work emphasizes:

• Transdisciplinary collaboration involving non-ICT specialists
• Knowledge transfer to industry and education
• Shaping the emerging field of AI Engineering as a formal discipline

Her publications highlight:

• Systematic approaches to ML operations (MLOps)
• Testing and debugging ML applications
• Evolving quality models for AI systems
• Defining AI engineer competencies through job market analysis

She supervises students in practice-oriented projects, such as Real-time communication app (2014), and contributes to educational programs for AI engineers.