Humans and animals in refugee camps    

Refugee camps have been a durable part of the political landscape for a century, and animals – livestock, pack animals, pets or pests – have been a constant and often vital presence in them, but research on their role in camp life is lacking. 

This project explores the roles animals have played in refugee camps. Our goals are to establish a cross-disciplinary academic/practitioner research network, to set out and disseminate a research agenda, identify appropriate methodologies and develop a collaborative funding bid to pursue that research. We will hold three cross-disciplinary academic/practitioner workshops, plus six smaller meetings with a group of people who have lived in refugee camps. We will produce a feature in the leading publication on forced migration, a working paper for UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency), blog posts, and applications for follow-on funding. The project will establish effective knowledge exchange partnerships to inform humanitarian practice and improve the lives of refugees and their animals.