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This thesis contributes to the field of social media within emergency management, helping us to better understand the value of social media for emergency responders. Social media have become an integral part of emergency management. Opportunities to increase situational awareness, improve emergency communications, and engage the public in preparedness and resilience-building activities are advocated ubiquitously in the literature. However, the impact upon emergency management resulting from emergency responders' social media use is presently inconclusive. Utilising a mixed methods approach, perceptions of both UK emergency responders and their followers are considered. Emergency responders' objectives and desired outcomes for using social media are explored. The views and motivations of their followers are then provided, o↵ering insights into the possible impacts of emergency responders' social media use upon emergency management. This research demonstrates that social media value for emergency responders depends on a combination of their intentions, online behaviour, and level of engagement from their followers. Future assessments must go further than judging emergency responders' ability to e↵ectively communicate in an emergency. Their ability to influence behaviour and perceptions through social media must be examined. The followers' motivations and perceptions also need to be understood; it emerged that social media are not merely confined to developing relationships between emergency responders and the public, but also between emergency responders themselves. It is recommended that, going forward, research in this field continue to employ a mixed methods approach. This research proposes a conceptual, multifaceted framework named SMOKE, which could serve two purposes: a guideline for future assessment of emergency responders' social media usage and a training/strategy tool for emergency responders to help guide their social media activity. Further, an abstract model of potential value is presented, which advocates three core roles social media could play in emergency management: from an information hub to an educational platform and, ultimately to a channel of influence and community spirit.

Understanding the potential environmental impacts of the materials we use is important. By doing this we can chose whether or not to regulate, reduce or ban substances which potentially present significant risk to human health and ecosystems. But in order to make environmental decisions effectively, we must collect, analyse and communicate information in the right way. Decision-making processes for emerging materials often do not consider the life cycle implications of substitute materials, nor the implications of uncertain data. This Engineering Doctorate (EngD) project explores how information provision about emerging materials can allow effective decision-making on environmental issues. This research examines the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool for understanding the environmental impact of emerging materials across the life cycle within a product. It reviews the use of life cycle thinking in policy-making to determine key aspects for decision-support; the challenges of applying LCA principles towards emerging materials and key pathways for managing uncertainty. It also evaluates how LCA can be relevant to industry as a mechanism for decision-support on new materials. These aspects are explored through novel LCA case studies. Key contributions to knowledge come from development of strategic pathways for managing uncertainty relating to carbon nanomaterials and the identification of appropriate methods of uncertainty assessment of emerging materials where uncertainty is very high. Novel LCA studies on emerging nanomaterial and solar technology also contribute new understanding on the life cycle aspects of these systems. Case study on the industry use of LCA adds to discussion on organisational environmental footprinting, and suggests new approaches for LCAs use within decision-support. Examination of life cycle thinking within policy highlights the urgent need for policy-makers to better assess the potential for unforeseen consequences as a result of precautionary action. This thesis brings together discussion on the implications of life cycle thinking for policy-makers and industry, with the practical challenges of performing LCA on emerging materials where uncertainty is high and little data is available. Its conclusions accentuate the need for better collaboration with industry both in obtaining life cycle data and incorporating LCA into decision-support, and the important role scenario analysis, expert engagement and risk assessment has in supporting uncertainty management where uncertainties are very high.

Marine litter is considered a common concern of humankind that poses a serious risk to marine life, human health and the economy. One of the most abundant and harmful types of marine litter is abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear. As it comprises of durable mate-rials like nylon or polyethylene it can continue to catch fish for years before it breaks down into smaller pieces. The smaller pieces can then be ingested with possibly fatal consequences. To mitigate those impacts, derelict fishing gear [DFG] is increasingly retrieved from the ocean. However, apart from landfilling there is currently no established waste treatment system to process this material in Europe. In the context of the European Interregional project MARELITT Baltic and in collaboration with WWF Germany and PreZero, this thesis investigated the retrieval and alternative waste treatment options for DFG. In total, four scenarios, namely the (1) mechanical recycling, (2) chemical recycling, (3) energy recovery and (4) disposal were evaluated to assess their poten-tial environmental impact and feasibility. For this, industrial experiments and a life cycle as-sessment (LCA) were conducted. The experiments highlighted DFG as a challenging mix of materials. Apart from large bulky items such as anchors, chains and cables, also smaller contaminants like sediments, salt and lead were contained. While this made the pre-treatment very time-consuming, a technical fea-sibility of the recycling techniques could be shown. The LCA results indicate that the mechan-ical recycling and energy recovery achieve the lowest potential environmental impacts. The chemical recycling scenario was too energy intensive to be environmentally competitive. Due to the determined lead content of up to 13.5% by weight in DFG, a disposal should be avoided as it poses a significant potential impact to human toxicity. For the establishment of a waste treatment system and as far as possible, existing infrastructure such as local incineration plants or recycling facilities for end-of-life fishing gear should be used. As this requires the setup of a pre-treatment process, harbour personnel or other stake-holders should be encouraged to conduct those tasks. Further work is required to include social, economic and possibly other aspects, before a decision on the most appropriate waste treatment system can be made. Still, given DFG’s harmful nature and challenging composition, preven-tive measures like the introduction of an extended producer responsibility scheme for fishing gear are key.