Catia Batista is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Nova School of Business and Economics, where she is also Founder and Scientific Director of the NOVAFRICA research center. She 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 randomized and lab-in-the-field experiments in countries such as Cape Verde, the Gambia, Ireland, Kenya, Portugal, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe. 

Catia has taught at the University of Chicago, University of Oxford, Trinity College Dublin, and Notre Dame University, and consulted for the World Bank and the International Growth Center. She is currently a Research Fellow at the international research centers CReAM (London, UK), IZA (Bonn, Germany) and JPAL Europe (Paris, France).