Katarina Ferro has studied social and cultural anthropology and history at the University of Vienna, where she specialised in legal and political anthropology. Her M.A. thesis is on the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi both for New Zealand society and in international law. In 2004 and 2005 Katarina conducted research on Indigenous resistance in Australia and New Zealand. Her interests also include aspects of power and hierarchy, and the role of recently-emerging Social Fora movements as networks for policy-making in opposition to radical economic globalisation.

Katarina has also previously worked as a freelance journalist based in Vienna.