West Country University leads global refugee project.

Researchers from the University of Bath will today begin a three year project to design housing for refugee camps in extreme climates.

The team is leading a group of international experts who aim to improve living conditions in countries where temperatures range from 45 degrees to minus 10.

It's the largest global study into housing displaced people and will hopefully create low-cost and easy-to-constuct housing.

20 possible shelter designs will be looked at- all designed to moderate extremes of temperature and ensure the privacy, comfort and dignity of residents.

The research will be the largest global study into thermal, air quality and social conditions in camps housing displaced people.

Princess Sumaya University for Technology in Jordan, the German Jordanian University and Mersin University in Turkey are collaborating in the work.

Those living in the refugee camps, as well as aid agencies, will be asked for their views on how housing and social care can be improved.

The researchers will utilise building physics to come up with designs for shelters which naturally stay warm in winter and cool in the summer.

They'll come up with 20 possible designs, six of which will be constructed in the UK and tested at the University's climate chamber.

The most promising of these designs will then be transported to Jordan to test in local conditions, with camp occupants and aid agencies providing feedback.

Refugee camps were originally seen as a short-term solution but many across the world exist for years and even decades.<

The world is currently witnessing the highest levels of human displacement with conflicts such as in Syria leading to the creation of a new generation of refugee camps.

The project, entitled Healthy Housing for the Displaced, has received £1.5million of funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.