The emphasis for the discussion was to promote further collaboration between the humanitarian and academic communities, in order to improve humanitarian response and bring the two communities closer together. Areas of research proposed by the humanitarian community to the academic community included:
- longitudinal studies on the economic impacts made by shelter, including livelihoods
- connections between housing and education, and housing and health
- economic impact of using local entrepreneurship and materials for reconstruction
- impact on shelter design from climate change
- social aspects of housing, specifically the impact of having single household transitional shelters in an urban area after natural disaster
- comparison of the different methods of housing intervention and their medium-term (5-7 years) socio-economic impact
- environmental impacts of different building options
- ultra low-cost permanent housing
Individuals or organisations interested in any of the areas proposed above should contact Shelter Centre, who will put them in touch with the appropriate Meeting participants.