Irish graduate Ella Flanagan has secured a global top 20 shortlisting for the James Dyson Award 2026 for Noli, a proximity-based emergency wristband engineered to protect mental health nurses through a simple pull-and-hold strap mechanism that contacts the nearest staff member.
Competing for the Global Prize
Having graduated from Technological University Dublin, Ms Flanagan will advance to the final judging round where inventor James Dyson will review the design alongside other international entries for a €35,000 prize. As the technology progresses through a patent-pending stage, she continues developing and testing the device in collaboration with health innovators. Her stated ambition is to see Noli adopted widely across mental health settings to foster safer working environments for staff and patients alike, with global winners scheduled for announcement on 4 November.
Judges for the international design competition have already singled out the project for its distinct approach to everyday hazards. “My favourite entries are those that surface problems that I didn’t know needed solving and this is something that a lot of the top 20 have in common,” said Kay Yeong, Principal Engineer and James Dyson Award Top 20 Judge. “It is precisely these kinds of thought-provoking insights that are needed to help us invent practical, everyday solutions to improve lives,” he added.
A Broader Landscape of Design Innovation
The contrast shows the breadth of the James Dyson Award, now in its 21st year. While Agrawalla’s £5,000 UK prize supports a portable device tackling environmental awareness during sleep and travel without relying on Wi-Fi or cloud processing, Flanagan’s €35,000 aspiration targets proximity alerting. Both projects reflect the competition’s core focus on addressing specific, overlooked everyday vulnerabilities through practical engineering.
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