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The original article has been corrected: Legends in Fig. 7 in the article and legends in Figs. 9 and 10 of Supplementary Material 1 as well as contents in columns H and J of Supplementary Material 2 have been amended to the valid results.

Small island developing States, such as those in the Pacific, are often prone to multiple hazards that have potential to result in disaster and / or restrict development. Hazard data can be limited in resolution or omitted in or near SIDS’ coasts, but a growing and improved range of datasets are becoming available. Through an analysis of approximately 100 policy documents on hazards and disaster risk management in Pacific island nations, we found: limited information on hazards and how they manifest to disasters at local levels, thus not fully connecting drivers and subsequent risk; at times a non-specific multi-hazard approach prompting the need to address more specific hazards; and restricted temporal and spatial scales of analysis that potentially limit continuity of actions where mitigation methods evolve. These limitations suggest that appropriate and timely high resolution hazard data is needed from the top-down to underpin the design and development of local disaster risk management plans, simultaneous to local, bottom-up knowledge and interpretation to bring the realities of such hazard data to life. Developing and ensuring openly available hazard data will enable island States to develop more robust, inclusive disaster risk management plans and mitigation policies, plus aid inter-island comparison for communal learning.

ObjectiveThe hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemic among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) is associated with sexual and drug-related behaviours. To stem the tide of HCV infection in GBMSM, regular testing leading to early diagnosis and treatment as prevention is vital. This study aimed to evaluate the success of current HCV testing guidelines from the perspective of GBMSM in four Celtic nations.MethodsSubpopulation analysis of data from the 2020 cross-sectional online SMMASH3 (social media, men who have sex with men, sexual and holistic health) survey was undertaken to examine HCV testing experiences and sexual behaviours among sexually active GBMSM (n=1886) stratified across three groups: HIV-diagnosed GBMSM (n=124); HIV-negative GBMSM using pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) (n=365); and HIV-negative/untested GBMSMnotusing PrEP (n=1397).ResultsSexual behaviours associated with HCV acquisition were reported by the majority of HIV-diagnosed (76.6%, n=95) and PrEP-using (93.2%, n=340) GBMSM. Reassuringly, recent testing for HCV in these groups was common, with 79.8% (n=99) and 80.5% (n=294) self-reporting HCV screening within the preceding year, respectively, mostly within sexual health settings. While 54.5% (n=762) of HIV-negative/untested GBMSM not using PrEP reported sexual behaviours associated with HCV, 52.0% had not been screened for HCV in the last year, despite almost half (48.0%, n=190) of unscreened men being in contact with sexual health services in the same period.ConclusionsSexual behaviours associated with HCV acquisition among HIV-diagnosed and PrEP-using GBMSM are common but complemented by regular HCV testing within sexual health services. Current testing guidelines for these groups appear to be effective and generally well observed. However, behaviour-based HCV testing for HIV-negative/untested GBMSMnotusing PrEP appears less effective and may undermine efforts to achieve HCV elimination. Accordingly, we need to increase HCV testing for these men in clinical settings and explore ways to screen those who are not in touch with sexual health services.

BackgroundNumerous studies have explored the concept of ‘professionalism’ in medicine, yet little attention has been paid to the concept in a mental health services context.AimsThis study sought to determine how the lived experience of patients, carers and healthcare professionals in mental health services align with medically defined, generic, professionalism standards.MethodInterviews and focus groups were conducted with patients, carers, nurses, occupational therapists, psychiatrists and psychologists. A framework analysis approach was used to analyse the data, based on the ‘Improving Selection to the Foundation Programmes’ Professional Attributes Framework.ResultsFifty-six individuals participated. Data aligned to all nine attributes of the Professional Attributes Framework, however the expectations within each attribute varied from that originally cited. A tenth attribute was devised during the process of analysis; Working with Carers. This attribute acknowledges the need to liaise with, and support carers in mental health services. Situational examples included both online and offline behaviours and the topic of ‘black humour’ emerged.ConclusionsCompared to a conventional medical definition of professionalism, additional themes and differing emphases were observed for mental health and learning disability services. These findings should be used to inform the teaching and evaluation of professionalism, especially for staff pursuing mental health service careers.

Synthetic fertilizers make up a significant fraction of the energy required to grow switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) for ethanol production. A field study compared biosolids and synthetic fertilizers on biomass yield, ethanol production, and nitrous oxide (N2 O) emissions of switchgrass to determine if using an alternative source of nutrient would lower the energy density of the fuel. Minimal N2 O emissions were observed the first year of the study (0.99 ± 1.5 g N2 O ha-1 d-1 for biosolids), with no difference between treatments. Biosolids were added in excess of agronomic rates, and gas samples were collected immediately after irrigation for the subsequent years to examine maximum N2 O emissions. Mean Year 2 emissions increased for fertilizers to 1.8 ± 8 g N2 O ha-1 d-1 (n = 131) and to 3.73 ± 10.2 g N2 O ha-1 d-1 (n = 130) for biosolids-amended soils. Emissions in Year 3 were similar to Year 2. Yield was similar and ranged from 3.7 ± 5 to 11 ± 1.1 and from 5.0 ± 0.2 to 13.4 ± 1.7 Mg ha-1 for biosolids and fertilizer, respectively. The potential ethanol yield was 365 ± 28 L Mg-1 and 374 ± 34 L Mg-1 for the biosolids- and fertilizer-grown grass, respectively. Greenhouse gas emissions associated with fertilizer production were considered for N, P, and K and totaled 1,653 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 e) ha-1 . The equivalent credits for substitution of biosolids (18 Mg ha-1 ) were -2,492 kg CO2 e ha-1 . Nitrous oxide emissions were calculated based on 1% of total N applied for agronomic applications and were 8,600 and 3,500 g N2 O ha-1 for the biosolids and fertilizer treatments, respectively. Total carbon costs associated with fertilization were 2,700 kg CO2 e ha-1 for fertilizer and 60 kg CO2 e ha-1 for biosolids. Using measured N2 O data would have resulted in lower emissions for both treatments.

Climate change impacts on coastal zones could be significant unless adaptation is undertaken. One particular macroeconomic dimension of sea level rise (SLR) impacts that has received no attention so far is the potential stress of SLR impacts on public budgets. Adaptation will require increased public expenditure to protect assets at risk and could put additional stress on public budgets. We analyse the macroeconomic effects of SLR adaptation and impacts on public budgets. We include fiscal indicators in a climate change impact assessment focusing on SLR impacts and adaptation costs using a computable general equilibrium model extended with a detailed description of the public sector. Coastal protection expenditure is financed issuing government bonds, meaning that coastal adaptation places an additional burden on public budgets. SLR impacts are examined using several scenarios linked to three different Representative Concentration Pathways: 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5, and two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways: SSP2 and SSP5. Future projections of direct damages of mean and extreme SLR and adaptation costs are generated by the Dynamic Interactive Vulnerability Assessment framework. Without adaptation, all regions of the world will suffer a loss and public deficits increase respect to the reference scenario. Higher deficits imply higher government borrowing from household savings reducing available resources for private investments therefore decreasing capital accumulation and growth. Adaptation benefits result from two mechanisms: (i) the avoided direct impacts, and (ii) a reduced public deficit effect. This allows for an increased capital accumulation, suggesting that support to adaptation in deficit spending might trigger positive effects on public finance sustainability.

Resilience is widely seen as an important attribute of coastal systems and, as a concept, is increasingly prominent in policy documents. However, there are conflicting ideas on what constitutes resilience and its operationalisation as an overarching principle of coastal management remains limited. In this paper, we show how resilience to coastal flood and erosion hazard could be measured and applied within policy processes, using England as a case study. We define resilience pragmatically, in economic, environmental and social terms, integrating what is presently a disparate set of policy objectives for coastal areas. Our definition includes several dimensions of resilience and we develop a set of composite indicators for each of these, grounded empirically with reference to national geospatial datasets. A prototype model has been developed, which generates a quantitative resilience index for a given geographical unit (England’s coastal hazard zone being represented at a high spatial resolution, about 8,000 areal units). A range of different stakeholder perspectives are captured using relative indicator weightings. The illustrative results presented here demonstrate the practicality of formalising and quantifying resilience, and the insights obtained mainly concern this process of operationalisation. To re-focus national policy around the stated desire of enhancing resilience to coastal flooding and erosion would require firm commitment from government to develop an approach to monitor progress towards resilience, extending the present risk-based approach. This requires a consensus methodology in which stakeholder values are explicitly considered, and also requires incentives for coastal managers to engage with and apply this new approach. Such a transition would challenge existing governance arrangements at national and local levels, requiring more integration and inter-agency cooperation. However, it could provide a robust evidence-based framework for achieving more sustainable, equitable and societally acceptable adaptive responses to climate change at the coast.

In the UK, coastal flooding and erosion are two of the primary climate-related hazards to communities, businesses, and infrastructure. To better address the ramifications of those hazards, now and into the future, the UK needs to transform its scattered, fragmented coastal data resources into a systematic, integrated, quality-controlled, openly accessible data portal. Such a portal would support analyses of coastal risk and resilience by hosting, in addition to data layers for coastal flooding and erosion, a diverse array of spatial datasets for building footprints, infrastructure networks, land use, population, and various socio-economic measures and indicators derived from survey and census data. Rather than prescribe user engagement, the portal would facilitate novel combinations of spatial data layers in order to yield scientifically, societally, and economically beneficial insights into UK coastal systems.

Cancer is a disease that is imbued with notions of risk, with individuals expected to avoid ‘risky’ behaviours and act swiftly when symptoms indicating a risk of cancer emerge. Cancer symptoms, however, are often ambiguous and indicative of a number of other conditions, making it difficult for people to assess when symptoms may, or may not, be the result of cancer. Here, we discuss interview data from a study examining the symptom appraisal and help-seeking experiences of patients referred for assessment of symptoms suspicious of a lung or colorectal cancer in the North-East of England. We explore how individuals draw upon ideas about cancer risks to assess whether cancer may be a possible explanation for their symptoms and to inform their decisions about help-seeking. In our analysis, we applied the concept of candidacy to the data, to highlight how lay epidemiology shapes people’s perceptions of cancer risk, and their subsequent responses to it. We found that participants appraised their symptoms, and the likelihood that they may have cancer, in light of relevant information on risk. These sources of information related to lifestyle factors, family history of cancer, environmental factors, and importantly, the symptomatic experience itself, including the absence of symptoms that participants associated with cancer. The importance of experienced, and absent, symptoms was a core element of participants’ everyday constructions of the ‘cancer candidate’, which informed symptom appraisal and subsequent help-seeking decision-making.

Sea-levels will rise, even with stringent climate change mitigation. Mitigation will slow the rate of rise. There is limited knowledge on how the costs of coastal protection vary with alternative global warming levels of 1.5°C to 4.0°C. Analysing six sea-level rise scenarios (0.74m to 1.09m, 50th percentile) across these warming levels, and five Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, this paper quantifies the economic costs of flooding and protection due to sea-level rise using the Dynamic Interactive Vulnerability Assessment (DIVA) modelling framework. Results are presented for World Bank income groups and five selected countries from the present to 2100. Annual sea flood damage costs without additional adaptation are more influenced by socio-economic development than sea-level rise, indicating there are opportunities to control risk with development choices. In contrast, annual sea dike investment costs are more dependent on the magnitude of sea-level rise. In terms of total costs with adaptation, upper middle, low middle and low income groups are projected to have higher relative costs as a proportion of GDP compared with high income groups. If low income countries protected now, flood costs could be reduced after 2050 and beyond. However, without further adaptation, their coasts will experience growing risks and costs leaving them increasingly reliant on emergency response measures. adaptation. Without mitigation or adaptation, greater inequalities in damage costs between income groups could result. At country level, annual sea flood damage costs without additional adaptation are projected to rapidly increase with approximately 0.2m of sea-level rise, leaving limited time to plan and adapt. SB, PG, KJ, RJ and RW were funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) under contract UK SBS CR18083. ASA, SB, SJ, DL, RN, RT and AV were funded by the European Union’s Seventh Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration under grant agreement No. 603396 (RISES-AM project).

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss methodological issues connected to being a member of a stigmatised group invited to take part in a research study. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on experiences of interviewing young parents and their families about teenage parenthood. The paper reflects on how the feelings of young parents about being under surveillance all the time, by official agencies and in their communities, could lead to resistance to “official” visitors, role confusion relating to access, and a great deal of image management, all of which potentially influenced the interviews. Findings Participants may feel that they should consent to an interview because of their position as a member of a group accustomed to being under surveillance, but they can take the opportunity to use the interview to demonstrate their competence, in this case as mothers. Interviewing members of a stigmatised group such as teenage parents empowers them to challenge negative stereotypes normally encountered in discourses of teenage parenting, thus subverting a sense of feeling bound to take part in an interview and turning the encounter around to assert a positive identity. Originality/value The “positionality” of the researcher as an influence on the research process has been widely examined, the positionality of the participants less so. This paper highlights how members of a stigmatised and potentially vulnerable group position themselves, and by so doing, can use the interview as part of the process of asserting a valued identity.

Current wastewater worker guidance from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) aligns with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommendations and states that no additional specific protections against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 infections, are recommended for employees involved in wastewater management operations with residuals, sludge, and biosolids at water resource recovery facilities. The USEPA guidance references a document from 2002 that summarizes practices required for protection of workers handling class B biosolids to minimize exposure to pathogens including viruses. While there is no documented evidence that residuals or biosolids of any treatment level contain infectious SARS-CoV-2 or are a source of transmission of this current pandemic strain of coronavirus, this review summarizes and examines whether the provided federal guidance is sufficient to protect workers in view of currently available data on SARS-CoV-2 persistence and transmission. No currently available epidemiological data establishes a direct link between wastewater sludge or biosolids and risk of infection from the SARS-CoV-2. Despite shedding of the RNA of the virus in feces, there is no evidence supporting the presence or transmission of infectious SARS-CoV-2 through the wastewater system or in biosolids. In addition, this review presents previous epidemiologic data related to other non-enveloped viruses. Overall, the risk for exposure to SARS-CoV-2, or any pathogen, decreases with increasing treatment measures. As a result, the highest risk of exposure is related to spreading and handling untreated feces or stool, followed by untreated municipal sludge, the class B biosolids, while lowest risk is associated with spreading or handling Class A biosolids. This review reinforces federal recommendations and the importance of vigilance in applying occupational risk mitigation measures to protect public and occupational health., Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image

For people with symptoms that could indicate cancer, prompt presentation to a health care practitioner facilitates early diagnosis, improves survival, and is encouraged by public health agencies and cancer charities. Nevertheless, time to presentation from symptom onset (the patient interval) is known to vary widely. We report findings from a mixed-methods study examining help-seeking among people with symptoms of lung or colorectal cancer. Patients referred for urgent investigation were invited to complete a questionnaire about their symptoms and help-seeking experiences; 26 of these participants then took part in a semi-structured interview. Discrepant accounts of help-seeking were reported through the different research methods, with longer ‘patient intervals’ reported in interviews. We use the concept of ‘public and private accounts’ to reflect upon why socially conforming accounts of early presentation were presented in the questionnaires, whilst accounts of longer ‘patient intervals’ tended to be presented within an interview encounter.

Climate-induced sea-level rise and vertical land movements, including natural and human-induced subsidence in sedimentary coastal lowlands, combine to change relative sea levels around the world’s coasts. Although this affects local rates of sea-level rise, assessments of the coastal impacts of subsidence are lacking on a global scale. Here, we quantify global-mean relative sea-level rise to be 2.6 mm yr−1 over the past two decades. However, as coastal inhabitants are preferentially located in subsiding locations, they experience an average relative sea-level rise up to four times faster at 7.8 to 9.9 mm yr−1. These results indicate that the impacts and adaptation needs are much higher than reported global sea-level rise measurements suggest. In particular, human-induced subsidence in and surrounding coastal cities can be rapidly reduced with appropriate policy for groundwater utilization and drainage. Such policy would offer substantial and rapid benefits to reduce growth of coastal flood exposure due to relative sea-level rise. Land subsidence and uplift influence the rate of sea-level rise. Most coastal populations live in subsiding areas and experience average rates of relative sea-level rise three to four times faster than due to climate change alone, indicating the need for policy to address subsidence.

Flooding is the most damaging natural hazard in England today. Coastal flood risk management aims to reduce the impacts of coastal flooding through adaptation measures including spatial planning, engineered hard and soft interventions, and insurance. Yet there are few reviews which collectively assess these measures. This paper aims to characterise and evaluate coastal flood risk management policy in England across planning, engineering and insurance approaches, focusing on their ability to manage risk to residential properties. An analysis of the literature and government reports reveals that together these management approaches address the different dimensions of flood risk. Nonetheless, the three approaches are legislated and regulated in relative isolation, and in their current formation have contrary implications for existing and future residential developments. There is also further scope to increase the resilience of planning, defence and insurance to social and environmental uncertainties in financing, governance and climate change. We recommend that future research and strategies in coastal flood risk management give greater consideration to multiple flood risk management approaches in conjunction, continuing to expand the integration between planning, engineering and insurance approaches.

Without adaptation, sea-level rise (SLR) will put more people at risk of flooding. This requires a timely and adequate commitment to adaptation. In this paper, we show how adaptation needs to unfold over time to manage climate-induced SLR. We use a novel scenario-neutral approach, applied globally and subsequently combined with SLR and population scenarios, to assess when, where, and how fast to adapt up to 2150. As rates of SLR accelerate, adaptation needs to occur at an increasing pace or at a larger scale. While it is certain that adaptation will be necessary, it is uncertain when and how fast. After only ∼ 0.15 m SLR relative to 2020, 1 million people need to adapt to permanent submergence and the amount of people at risk of a 100-year flood increases with 21% to 83 million people. This would occur in the next 30 (20–45) years for RCP4.5 and within 25 (18–36) years under RCP8.5, assuming no change in protection or population. The uncertainty in timing increases with higher SLR, albeit for some impacts it can still a matter of time. Population at risk of a 100-year flood doubles after 0.75 m SLR which could occur by ∼ 2080 (2068–2088), 2100 (2085–2130), or 2150 (2115-beyond 2150) under a high-end, RCP8.5, or RCP4.5 scenario respectively. The rate, at which the risk increases, differs strongly per country. In some countries an additional 1–5 million people of the present population will be at risk of a 100-year flood within the next two decades, while others have more time to adapt but will see rapid growth of risk past 2100. Combining SLR impacts with projected population change further increases the number of people at risk of a 100-year flood by ∼13% between 2040–2060 (under both RCP8.5-SSP5 and RCP4.5-SSP2). This can be managed through protecting, floodproofing or limiting developments in high-risk areas. A commitment to adaptation is inevitable to maintain risk at present levels. With increasing warnings of the potential for accelerated SLR due to rapid ice sheet melt, adaptation may need to happen faster and sooner than previously anticipated which can have consequences for how to adapt. Failure to acknowledge the potential and long-term (including beyond 2100) adaptation commitment in development and adaptation planning may lead to a commitment gap and subsequently expensive retrofitting of infrastructure, creation of stranded assets, and less time to adapt at greater cost. In contrast, considering the long-term adaptation commitment can support timely adaptation and alignment with other societal goals.

Resilience is widely seen as an important attribute of coastal systems and, as a concept, is increasingly prominent in policy documents. However, there are conflicting ideas on what constitutes resilience and its operationalisation as an overarching principle of coastal management remains limited. In this paper, we show how resilience to coastal flood and erosion hazard could be measured and applied within policy processes, using England as a case study. We define resilience pragmatically, integrating what is presently a disparate set of policy objectives for coastal areas. Our definition uses the concepts of resistance, recovery and adaptation, to consider how the economic, social and environmental dimensions of coastal systems respond to change. We develop a set of composite indicators for each dimension, grounded empirically with reference to national geospatial datasets. A prototype Coastal Resilience Model (CRM) has been developed, which combines the dimensions and generates a quantitative resilience index. We apply it to England’s coastal hazard zone, capturing a range of different stakeholder perspectives using relative indicator weightings. The illustrative results demonstrate the practicality of formalising and quantifying resilience. To re-focus national policy around the stated desire of enhancing resilience to coastal flooding and erosion would require firm commitment from government to monitor progress towards resilience, requiring extension of the present risk-based approach, and a consensus methodology in which multiple (and sometimes conflicting) stakeholder values are explicitly considered. Such a transition may also challenge existing governance arrangements at national and local levels, requiring incentives for coastal managers to engage with and apply this new approach, more departmental integration and inter-agency cooperation. The proposed Coastal Resilience Model, with the tools to support planning and measure progress, have the potential to help enable this transition.

Environmental scientist Sally Brown learnt to connect with others through talking rather than e-mailing, and to not fear asking dumb questions. Environmental scientist Sally Brown learnt to connect with others through talking rather than e-mailing, and to not fear asking dumb questions.

We thank Törnqvist et al. for engaging with our modelling study on the future response of global coastal wetlands to sea-level rise (SLR) and their careful and critical discussion of the presented methods and results. However, we disagree with their suggestion that our modelling approach is inadequate, a claim which relies on two arguments: (1) they argue that our results are inconsistent with the “A/S (accommodation versus sediment supply) theory”; (2) they refer to coastal Louisiana as a case example where our modelling results would deviate from historic observations and future projections of coastal wetland change. However, below we will demonstrate that Törnqvist et al.’s application of the A/S theory is not valid to predict changes in coastal wetland area, and that our global predictions are in line with regional observations and projections for coastal Louisiana and the wider region of the Gulf of Mexico. Taking coastal Louisiana as an example, Törnqvist et al. highlight that ca. 6000 km2 of land are expected to be lost over the coming 50 years due to RSLR and the erosion/drowning of coastal wetlands. However, this figure cannot directly be compared to our results, because it does not account for upland areas being converted to wetlands as sea level rises; it only accounts for seaward losses due to erosion and/or drowning with associated shoreline retreat and land loss3. Equivalent scenario runs of our model (i.e. only considering wetland accretion, but no inland migration) result in a comparable projected wetland loss in Louisiana of ca. 6,900 km2 until 2100, under the medium SLR scenario (RCP4.5). This loss is triggered by insufficient sediment availability for the marshes to keep pace with SLR in situ. Hence, Törnqvist et al.’s claim that our model underestimates future wetland loss on the US Gulf coast is incorrect. Rather, we demonstrate that our global-scale model predictions of wetland losses are comparable to regional estimates.

Despite a substantial body of research on young people’s wishes about the content and delivery of sex and relationships education (SRE), studies still indicate dissatisfaction with the way lessons are provided. This discussion takes place in a public health context where young people’s sexual activity is viewed negatively and as a risk to health, and advice focusses on the need to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. This focus on risk clashes with cultural representations of sexuality, and particularly male sexuality, which focus on pleasure and risk taking. In this paper, we present insights from workshops provided by a local charity to boys aged 14-15 in a school in one of the most deprived areas in Edinburgh, Scotland. We held four focus groups with a total of 20 boys and interviewed the workshop providers and the school guidance teacher. The boys valued having men from outside school talking to them about sex and relationships in ways that made them feel respected. They were keen to learn more about relationships, highlighting the need to focus on how SRE is delivered to young working class men.

The flood risk management (FRM) doctrine that drives coastal flood preparedness in England acknowledges that not all floods can be prevented. Subsequently, beyond flood prevention other measures such as control, acceptance, adaptation, and redistribution constitute part of both national management policy and local policy implementation. The aim of this paper is to analyse the challenges of stakeholders implementing FRM policy locally, and their expectations of the public regarding coastal flood risk. We analyse the challenges from engineering, planning and insurance perspectives, through thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews in two case studies in contrasting English regions. In the North West case study, covering parts of the Lancashire and Cumbrian coastlines, there is a contrast between the ongoing significant investment on the Fylde Peninsula (in 2015-2021, ~£120 million will be invested on coastal protection schemes) and the Cumbrian coastline, where a strategy is still being produced. In the South, an area composed of parts of the Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight coastlines was studied. Similarly to the North West, this area encompasses contrasting coastlines of significant settlements as well as more sparsely populated coast. Both cases have a legacy of coastal defences as well as more rural stretches of coastline with a defence legacy but less contemporary spending. Thus, it was possible to compare responses across stakeholder groups and case areas experiencing locally different environmental, social and economic conditions. A set of 45 interviewees (stakeholders with involvement or interest in coastal flood risk in the North West or South coast) were questioned regarding the costs, timing, power, responsibility, acceptability, equity, and effectiveness of FRM. Responses were coded and analysed using thematic analysis. Results suggest in the case study areas there is a disjuncture between the stakeholders’ perceived need for increased public debate on a longer-term, more holistic vision for the coast, and a public who is considered to be largely unaware, uninvolved and not feeling responsible for coastal FRM. While the Environment Agency and Local Authorities have clear, local and regional FRM responsibilities through the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, the respondents in the North West and South case areas desire further devolution of these responsibilities to the household and the individual. Simultaneously, they perceive the public to be currently unaware of their flood risk and not very involved in its management. It may be necessary to resolve these existing public engagement issues before the public can become involved in any meaningful way in the desired long-term, integrated and holistic vision for the coast, including and beyond FRM.

The Maldives (land elevation approximately 1 m above mean sea level) is often associated with the threat of rising sea levels. Land scarcity due to population pressure is also a major issue. In the late 1990s a new 1.9km2 1.8 m high artificial island, Hulhumalé was created for urban expansion, including an allowance for sea‐level rise. This paper assesses flood exposure through an extreme water level scenario on Hulhumalé taking into account sea‐level rise and analyses potential adaptation options to extend island life. Results indicate that overtopping is likely to occur with 0.6 ± 0.2 m of sea‐level rise, with more severe, widespread flooding with 0.9 ± 0.2 m of sea‐level rise. If the Paris Agreement goals are met, flooding is not anticipated this century. However, under a non‐mitigation scenario, flooding could occur by the 2090s. Building seawalls 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m high could delay flooding for 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 m of sea‐level rise, respectively. Land raising has been successful in Hulhumalé in reducing flood risk simultaneous to addressing development needs. Whilst new land claim and raising can be cost‐effective, raising developed land provides greater challenges, such as timeliness with respect to infrastructure design lives or financial costs. Thus the transferability and long‐term benefits of land raising requires further consideration.

The pending challenge of assessment in higher education, although also at other educational levels, continues to be its effective link with student learning. Students' strategic learning could and should be achieved by the assessment. This paper arises from the attempt to answer the question about what would be the future of assessment in higher education and it is presented under the form of a collaborative text that was elaborated by all the authors who sign it. This contribution offers a joint reflection by various authors from different contexts and regions on three essential aspects. First, the need for reflection and a change in assessment based on current trends that are demonstrating their timeliness and validity is highlighted. A second issue focuses on the value of technology for the changes that are taking place on assessment, but as long as it adapts to its principles and, therefore, does not imply a return to the last century under the dominance of models today widely overcome. Together with the use of technology-enhanced assessment, the interrelationship between assessment and learning implies to redesign assessment practices, to incorporate proposals from the fields of social justice and sustainable assessment, the design of authentic assessment tasks, to promote feedback and encourage students’ participation. In brief, to collaborate to develop the students' evaluative judgment in order to achieve free, socially responsible and fair citizens, El reto pendiente de la evaluación en educación superior, aunque también en otros niveles, sigue siendo su vinculación efectiva con el aprendizaje de los estudiantes. A través de la evaluación se puede y debe conseguir un aprendizaje estratégico del estudiantado. Esta aportación surge a partir del intento de dar respuesta al interrogante sobre cuál sería el futuro de la evaluación en la educación superior, presentándose la misma bajo la forma de un texto elaborado de forma colaborativa entre todos los autores que la firman. Se ofrece así una reflexión conjunta de diversos autores de diferentes contextos y regiones sobre tres aspectos esenciales. En primer lugar, se resalta la necesidad de reflexión y un cambio en la evaluación basado en las tendencias actual es que están demostrando su oportunidad y validez. Un segundo aspecto se centra en el valor de la tecnología en los cambios que se están produciendo en la evaluación, pero siempre que se adapte a sus principios y, por lo tanto, no implique una vuelta al siglo pasado bajo el dominio de modelos hoy ampliamente superados. Interrelacionar evaluación y aprendizaje junto a la utilización de tecnologías que mejoran la evaluación implica, finalmente, rediseñar las prácticas evaluativas incorporando propuestas desde los ámbitos de la justicia social y la evaluación sostenible, el diseño de tareas de evaluación auténticas, propiciar retroalimentación de los procesos y fomentar la participación del estudiantado. En definitiva, colaborar en la formación del juicio evaluativo del estudiantado para conseguir ciudadanos libres, socialmente responsables y justos