This is the Guardian. It's been a busy couple of years for the world's scientists.

Faced with a new virus spreading rapidly around the globe, they race to gather data, develop

models, run tests, find treatments and create entirely new vaccines, all the while trying to

navigate this strange new world, just like the rest of us.

Oh right, where does Mum want to go?

I think just on that show is great.

Thank you. I'm so sorry.

This is the most informative interview I've done all day.

They also had to work with politicians who, with limited information,

had to make critical decisions that would lead countries through the

pandemic. Not always the easiest of jobs. And then I said supposing you brought the light

inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way and I think

you said you're going to test that too. Sounds interesting.

At the time there was no obvious right path, but now two years on we can look back and see where

we might have gone wrong. That's the subject of a new book preventable by Professor

Debbie Shrida, Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh.

During the pandemic, Debbie quickly got to work to understand the virus.

She was soon advising the Scottish government and sharing this information with us too.

So what was it like being a very public public health expert?

And from her experience, what are the lessons to be learned for next time?

I'm E. Sample, the Guardian Science Editor, and this is Science Weekly.

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, Debbie was one of the academics who was

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