Dr. Ragbir Bhathal's courses on "Astronomy and Life in the Universe" are popular among students at the University of Western Sydney Macarthur in Australia, and with the general public. As the foundation chair of the SETI Australia Centre from 1995 to 1998, he spearheaded their 1998 conference on SETI science and society, which attracted 100 participants from 15 countries. He directs an optical SETI observatory at the University. He wrote Australian Astronomers, Profiles, and Searching for ET, and he edited the 2000 issue of Acta Astronautica devoted to SETI. The National Library of Australia has created the Dr. Ragbir Bhathal Collection, which includes his correspondence as well as his papers.