Prof. Paul Roche is Chair of Astronomy Education at Cardiff University.
He is an astronomer who specialises in outreach and education, working with schools to develop astronomy and space-themed STEM education resources and programmes. His current research interests are in asteroids and comets, though he has previously worked on hot stars, black holes and neutron stars.
He is the European Space Agency’s Space Ambassador for Wales.
He oversees the “UniverseLab” project, which uses space to engage students with science through a combination of 3D shows, virtual and augmented reality, robotic telescopes and hands-on workshops.
Additionally, “AstroCymru” started as project set up by Paul Roche and Emma Wride as part of an outreach arm of the Astronomy Department at the University of South Wales, delivering astronomy related workshops to schools across Wales. It was funded by the Welsh Government in 2013. Further funding in 2015 allowed the project to expand and become part of the Physics and Astronomy Department at Cardiff University. Since 2018 AstroCymru has been a commercial company.
In 2008 Paul was the winner of the Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Achievement in Education.