A group of artists and scientists has teamed up with the UNHCR and Syrian refugees to develop new hand hygiene products and design and produce reusable masks, shields and gowns to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Jordan.
The collaboration with refugees living in Zaatari camp has developed personal protective equipment (PPE) using locally available, low-cost materials that can be repurposed after the pandemic, creating training and employment opportunities at a new mask production facility, while keeping people safe and reducing plastic waste.
The project, The People’s PPE, led by academics at the University of Sheffield and London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London (UAL), with researchers from Al Albayt University and the University of Petra, has received £766,675 of government funding provided through UK Research and Innovation’s flagship Strength in Places Fund.
Dr Steve Connelly from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning will support the participatory development and action research elements of the project, and provide input on the ethics of working collaboratively with refugees.
"This is a tremendously exciting project which will have real and immediate impact on refugees' lives, and at the same time create knowledge which will be useful in many other places and contexts,” Dr Connelly said. “I will be working closely with colleagues from universities in Jordan, as well as in the UK, to support the development of a cohort of Syrian refugees and Jordanians as skilled researchers.
“They will be investigating the most socially appropriate ways to develop and disseminate PPE within the refugee camps and wider communities, and to create livelihoods from manufacturing PPE."