Petra Helmholz

Dr. Petra Helmholz is an Associate Professor in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Curtin University, specializing in Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. She holds a German Dipl.-Ing. (M.Sc.) and Dr.-Ing. (Ph.D.) in Geomatics. Her research focuses on underwater, terrestrial, and airborne photogrammetry, with applications in health, agriculture, heritage mapping, and engineering. She has received multiple awards, including the Asia Pacific Excellent Award in Education (2018) and WA Spatial Awards. She serves as National Chair of the Remote Sensing & Photogrammetry Commission (SSSI) and is an Associated Editor of the journal PE&RS. Helmholz leads the Bachelor of Surveying program at Curtin and holds licenses in remote piloting and surveying. Her work bridges geospatial technologies with interdisciplinary fields like medicine and environmental science.

Education:

• 2006–2012: Ph.D. in Photogrammetry, Leibniz University Hannover
• 2003–2005: Certified Licensed Surveyor, Germany
• 1997–2003: B.Sc./M.Sc. in Surveying, TU Berlin

Research Interests:
Underwater and airborne photogrammetry, 3D reconstruction for medical and heritage applications, thermal simulation of urban environments, and geospatial data analysis. Her projects include facial analysis for rare disease diagnosis, coral growth estimation, and pipeline monitoring.

Publications highlight innovations in underwater imaging techniques, urban heat island studies, and medical 3D modeling. She actively contributes to international bodies like ISPRS and ASPRS, co-chairing working groups on geospatial data standards and applications.