In the current work we propose a multiphase DNS method capable of resolving the motion of solid particles coupled with heat transfer effects. The method is based on solving a shared set of momentum and energy balance equations for the carrier phase and the particulate phase. Individual particles are tracked using a number of volume fraction advection equations. The proposed method is in very good agreement with the available data in the literature for the following cases: isothermal particle motion (in the presence of walls and other particles), natural convection around a stationary particle and solid particles motion accompanied with heat transfer effects. In addition, we show that the method is inherently capable of handling deformable particles (i.e. droplets and bubbles) co-existing with solid particles. The method is thus well suited to deal with challenging multiphase systems, such as diesel spray combustion with soot formation, spray drying with particle nucleation, and biological treatment of waste water. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.