Our research on hydroponics is focussed on the production of high-value crops close to market (urban farming) with a low carbon and water footprint using polyurethane foam as a synthetic soil.
We connected it to a waste disposal problem posed by UNHCR - the UN's refugee agency at the Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan. They saw dirty, unused foam mattresses, we saw an alternative growth substrate and more than that 鈥榓 problem鈥� that could actually help. In doing so we developed small-scale hydroponics at the household and community scale. We responded to the frequent cry of the Syrian refugees - that they miss the colour green - not only did we find a technical fix, but also an impact on well-being.
These benefit our work in Sheffield, we now have an urban farm built using the low-cost technology developed in Za鈥檃tari with farmers from Syria
We connected it to a waste disposal problem posed by UNHCR - the UN's refugee agency at the Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan. They saw dirty, unused foam mattresses, we saw an alternative growth substrate and more than that 鈥榓 problem鈥� that could actually help. In doing so we developed small-scale hydroponics at the household and community scale. We responded to the frequent cry of the Syrian refugees - that they miss the colour green - not only did we find a technical fix, but also an impact on well-being.
These benefit our work in Sheffield, we now have an urban farm built using the low-cost technology developed in Za鈥檃tari with farmers from Syria
