The strategic adviser, 58, predicts whats next with Covid, what could happen to the UK and what good yes, good can come of this

Theres a misconception that futurists just sit and make predictions with their crystal balls but we try to look at different factions that shape the future, like trends, weak signals about whats happening next, new ideas in labs. You pull them together and explore what happens next, think about how we might react and what the implications might be. At the moment, a lot of people are talking about AI that is going to be smarter than humans so my job is to inform governments, businesses and individuals, and help them prepare and see what opportunities you can create.

Not Covid-19 in particular but since the 1960s people have been talking about the risks of global pandemics and with the rise of air travel its much more likely these pandemics will spread globally and faster. You know everything that will happen with a virus pandemic and nothing that has happened in the UK is a shock. You know you need to do testing, tracking and tracing, and lockdown to contain a virus. Watch Hollywood movies even film-makers know what to do. Look at the places with good practices such as Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea, which were prepared and had mechanisms in place.

A combination of things funding cuts to physical resources, a level of confidence that it wouldnt happen to us, putting our attention on different things. Over the last ten years government has focused on austerity, not building up the capacity to deal with these things.

There are different scenarios and the most positive is we dont get an uptake in infections, infection rates and death rates keep falling, we gradually unlock the economy and although well have a shockingly bad year the best case is eight to ten per cent shrinkage. Then, if we dont get second waves and a big separate flu epidemic, by 2022 were back to normal. For me, I think its going to be more gradual. The worst-case scenario is that we have a second, third or fourth spike of infection, which will result in us going in and out of lockdowns, probably localised lockdowns. We could see negative interest rates, a prolonged recession and very slow recovery through 2022 and 2023. Both scenarios are possible.

Yes! We have a renewed focus on the health service and the need to provide it with better resources. Weve seen F1 teams and engine manufacturers collaborating to create ventilators, weve seen a mobilisation of the public with 750,000 people signing up as volunteers, an uplift in community spirits, home delivery has been boosted, some sectors have done very well and the environment has been a winner. Its raised digital literacy, many more are working from home, and not the same hours with long commutes, and bicycle ownership has gone up.

You have to blame Neil Armstrong because the moon landing blew my mind I remember thinking Wow, we can leave this planet. I thought that by the time I was an adult, Id be visiting the moon on a regular basis. I loved everything shiny and new, and I watched Tomorrows World. I studied electronics and computer science at the University of Keele, got an MBA from the London Business School and went into consulting.

Do some reading because there are loads of future thinkers and sites out there. You can do short online courses from just half a day long. The University of Houston does them, as well as the University of Manchester. Take an interest in future analysis so if youre studying economy, make sure you push lecturers to talk to you about the new models for the future and new thinking.

We had our entire order book wiped out in February and March for the whole year. It was a big shock. We regrouped, got sponsors for our webinars and decided we wouldnt be derailed. It wasnt easy you have to push hard when theres no revenue. But now the speaking enquiries are coming back and the book is selling well so it feels positive now.

We know 1,000 people in the futures and foresight field so we wrote individually to them, and put a callout on Facebook and Twitter, and asked everyone if theyd like to contribute to a book looking at what life would look like after the pandemic. We gave them a month to do it and ended up with 115 people submitting chapters.

I was in a rush leaving to pick a friend up at the station and accidentally bashed a tap and turned it on. It was a small sink that quickly overflowed so by the time we got back 20 minutes later the office had been flooded. Expensive to fix. The lesson? More haste, less speed.

Salary: A basic researcher role in a future foresight company would earn 20,000 to 30,000 and the very top futurist speakers are doing 200 gigs a year and earning upwards of a million

Regular hours? The more well-known you get, the more global your client base, the more willing you have to be to take a call at 7am or midnight

Short and sweet advice: Its better to try and fail than do nothing

Never stop learning. Its the perfect time to be learning new things and see if the things youre interested in could work as a business

Aftershocks And Opportunities Scenarios For A Post-Pandemic Future, co-written and edited by Rohit Talwar, is out now, visit fastfuture.com

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Tips from the Top: Global futurist Rohit Talwar - Metro Newspaper UK