Before moving to Ottawa, she taught at MIT. She earned her BA from Stanford University and her PhD from Yale University, with support from a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Her research has been recognized with the 2013 Heinz I. Eulau Award, the 2014 Gabriel A. Almond Award, and an honorable mention for the 2019 Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics. Her academic work is informed by her prior experiences as a diplomat for the US Department of State, a Spanish-English legal interpreter, and a congressional candidate.
As part of her research work, Regina Bateson studies comparative politics, with a focus on human rights, violence, and conflict. Several of her projects investigate how ordinary people grapple with violence and insecurity. She is particularly interested in how victimization affects political behavior. She is also concerned with gender and racial discrimination. Geographically, her work focuses on Latin America, the United States, and Canada. She has done extensive field research in Guatemala, and she often serves as a pro bono expert witness for Guatemalan asylum-seekers in the US.