Prof Mike Edmunds (L), President-elect of the RAS, and Pro Bernard Schutz (R), Fellow of the Royal Society

This month, we’re joined by two people who’ve just been elected to prestigious roles in science here in the UK. Professor Mike Edmunds has just become President-elect of the Royal Astronomical Society, while Professor Bernard Schutz has recently been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Both these societies have a long history, and we discuss their role in the development of science in the UK, and how it has changed.

Mike and Bernard have both been here in Cardiff for nearly 50 years, and have seen the way science is done change significantly over that period. But what are their thoughts about the future of astronomy, and of science in general?

What are the challenges facing the two societies, and science in general, in the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic? What do they think we should we do to protect future of science, and possibly humanity?