Dr Shakeel Thomas Bhatti is a visiting professor of intellectual property law at the Faculty of Law at UFL. In his academic research and teaching activities, he was previously a visiting professor at the Faculty of Law at Ghent University in Belgium (2016-2017), the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Boku) in Vienna, Austria (2012-2013), the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights Research and Advocacy at the National Law School of India University in Bangalore, India (2003-2005) and the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights at Cochin University of Science and Technology in Cochin, India (2004-2005). He was also a lecturer on biodiversity and biotechnology law at the Swedish Centre for Biodiversity at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Lund, Sweden (2003-2005) and in the Biodiplomacy Programme at the United Nations University (UNU) in Japan (2004).

In his applied work in intellectual property law at the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation, he serves as Counsellor for Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources (2016-present). At the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, he was the first Secretary of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture from 2006 to 2016. Prior to 2006, he was Head of the Genetic Resources, Biotechnology and Related Traditional Knowledge Division at the World Intellectual Property Organisation, following a series of ascending responsibilities within the organisation. He represented the organisation in the multilateral processes of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the negotiations and implementation of the Nagoya Protocol, the WTO, including the WTO Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (WTO TRIPS Council) and the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment (WTO CTE); the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); the World Health Organisation (WHO), including the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework and the WHO Expert Committee on the Regulation of Human Germline Genome Editing; the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, including the Commission and Working Groups on Genetic Resources in Food and Agriculture; and numerous WIPO working groups and committees. Prior to joining the United Nations, he obtained his doctorate from Duke University in Durham, NC, USA, on the scope of patentable subject matter under Article 27 of the TRIPS Agreement in relation to genetic resources and biotechnological inventions. His publications appear in various journals and books, including the commentary on Swiss patent law published by Stämpfli Verlag and the Handbook on Plant Biotechnology published by Wiley and Sons.

Shakeel Thomas Bhatti war Mitglied in zahlreichen internationalen Expertengruppen, wie z.B. für die Expertengruppen für Rechte an pflanzengenetische Ressourcen und traditionelles Wissen am Welthandelsinstituts in Bern und der Expertengruppe für geistige Eigentumsrechte und kulturelle Flüsse des Social Science Research Council in New York. Er ist Mitglied zahlreicher professioneller immaterialgüterrechtlicher Vereinigungen wie z.B. der Licensing Executive Society International (LESI), der Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), der GRUR und der International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP).