Catia Batista is a Professor of Economics at Nova School of Business and Economics (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), where she is also co-Founder and Scientific Director of the NOVAFRICA research center. Catia holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Department of Economics of the University of Chicago.

Catia has research interests related to international migration and remittance flows, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, technology adoption, education and policy evaluation. She has done work including RCTs and lab-in-the-field experiments in countries such as Cape Verde, the Gambia, Ireland, Kenya, Portugal, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe.

Currently a research fellow at the CReAM center (University College London, UK) and an invited researcher at J-PAL Europe (Paris School of Economics, France), Catia has taught at the University of Chicago, University of Oxford, Notre Dame University, and Trinity College Dublin. Previously, she worked at the International Monetary Fund and at the Portuguese Catholic University, and consulted for the World Bank and the International Growth Center.

Catia is Counsellor at the National Counsel for Migration and Asylum Policies (Portugal).

Catia is currently a Research Fellow at IZA, and joined IZA as a Research Affiliate in May 2005.