Petra Ferk is one of the Founders at the Institute for Public-Private Partnership, Slovenia. She is also an Assistant Professor for Public Administration at the Graduate School of Government and European Studies, Slovenia.
Petra Ferk graduated cum laude from the Faculty of Law. After her studies, she started working at Slovenska odškodninska družba, Ltd. and later switched to a position of a Advisor at Slovenia Control, Ltd.. In 2008, she successfully defended her Master Thesis, her mentor being prof. Rajko Pirnat. That same year, she co-authored a monograph Javne službe, državne pomoči in javno-zasebna partnerstva [Public Services, State Aids, and Public-Private Partnerships]. In 2008, she was also awarded the “Young Lawyer Award” by the Slovenian Law Association. In 2023, she received recognition from the Association of Lawyers for her work in the organs of the association and its members.
As said, Petra is the co-author of a legal monograph and also the author of numerous articles dealing mainly with public-private partnerships, public procurement, services of general (economic) interest, and state aid. Among her activities abroad, her most prominent work is a research, conducted in Dublin as well as research for her master’s and doctoral theses at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, Germany, for which she received scholarship. She additionally improved her professional skills as a stagier at the European Court of Justice in the cabinet of Judge of the Court of First Instance of European Communities, Mrs. Ingrida Labucka.
Within the Institute for Public-Private Partnership, Petra advises on complex legal issues within the areas of operation of the Institute, as well as covering the fields of research, international cooperation, and knowledge transfer. As an Associate assistant professor for public administration at the New University, she lectures about public services law, public-private partnerships, public procurement, administrative systems, administrative law and procedure. Recently, she has been actively engaging in discussions on e-procurement, energy performance contracting projects, sustainable procurement, provision and financing of public services, public infrastructure, and the related issue of state aid.
Petra is a member of the board of the Slovenian Association for European Law and participates in its activities since its establishment. She also holds the positions of a member of the management board at Federation Internationale du droit Europeen – FIDE and International Academy of Comparative Law – IACL.
Petra is the national correspondent for European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, and is active in promoting best practices on PPPs within the trainings organised by the UNECE International PPP Centre of Excellence. She is on the list of lecturers for public-private partnerships at the Academy for Administration of the Slovenian Ministry of Public Administration.
Petra is also very active in the global transfer of best practices in the field of implementing sustainable development goals through public-private partnerships, which takes place under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) - UNECE PPP and Infrastructure Evaluation and Rating System (PIERS) and is listed as a Project Evaluator rostered by the UNECE Secretariat.
In her free time, she likes to cuddle with her two daughters, creates culinary masterpieces, tends to her garden, and writes academic articles late at night when the house is asleep. Her boasting energy is preserved by reading, meditation, five tibetan rites, swimming and riding.
Selected publications in English
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