Patricia received her Bachelor of Environmental Engineering in 2015, and in 2018, she obtained a Master's degree in Water Resources, both from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. In 2020, Patricia became a Ph.D. candidate at TU Delft (Hydraulic Engineering). Until 2020, she had a research stay at the UNESCO Institute for Water Education (IHE Delft), and from 2022 to 2024, at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), in Germany. As a board member from 2020 to 2022, Patricia was active in the start and establishment of the Yong NCR, the young professional organization of the Netherlands Centre for River Studies.

Her curiosity was triggered by the idea of intentionally triggering sediment-laden flows, so she is investigating the formation of turbidity currents by an impinging 2D water jet. The core of her research is experimental, and she approaches the problem from a hydraulic and fluid mechanics point of view.  She hopes her PhD research will contribute to a more sustainable management of sedimentation processes in key hydraulic infrastructures (such as water reservoirs).