Much like previous incarnations, this year’s National James Dyson Award has just crowned Australia’s brightest sparks – celebrating three spectacular individuals out to save the world. Or, at least make it a whole lot more liveable. And, all before their 21st birthday!
The competition – which is now marking its 20 year milestone – exists to inspire and showcase budding design engineers across the globe. And, this year, Australia’s brightest young innovators are truly proof that the future is full of hope. Here are the dreamers and doers shaping tomorrow.
Hannah Gough – Building hope, one syringe at a time
At just 23, Swinburne University student Hannah Gough has taken out the top gong as Australia’s national winner. Her invention is SyriSter – a portable sterilisation device that could transform healthcare in crisis zones.
The inspiration was simple yet sobering: in places where sterile equipment is scarce, reusing syringes can spread deadly diseases. Globally, around 40% of injections are given with syringes that have not been properly sterilised – contributing to more than 21 million hepatitis B infections, 2 million hepatitis C infections, and approximately 260,000 HIV infections each year. Hannah decided that wasn’t good enough. SyriSter uses UV-C light to eradicate pathogens inside syringes in just 60 seconds.
What makes Hannah’s win even more remarkable is how accessible her idea is. SyriSter uses six reflective aluminium chambers powered by rechargeable batteries to deliver precise UV-C dosages, sterilising syringes hundreds of times without degradation. Offering a low-cost, portable alternative to expensive autoclaves, it has the potential to prevent disease transmission in low-resource and crisis-affected regions. She’s proof that compassion combined with creativity can change the world.
Hannah began developing SyriSter as part of a year-long university project, drawing inspiration from interviews with paramedics and disaster response personnel. Her goal: help medics treat as many patients as possible with limited resources. The device, now in prototype stage, has already demonstrated effective sterilisation and durability across hundreds of cycles. She plans to use the $9,950 national prize money to further test the UV-C technology, explore regulatory guidance, and seek partnerships to bring it into production.
Reflecting on her win, Hannah said: “It’s surreal to be named the Australian National Winner of the James Dyson Award. SyriSter started as just another university project, but knowing it has the potential to make syringe re-use safer in crisis zones, and ultimately save lives, makes me incredibly proud.”
Nathan Wallis – Solving a problem close to home
Runner-up Nathan Wallis, also from Swinburne, proves that inspiration often starts in our own backyard. His project, Hydromask, is a hands-free, user-friendly device designed to deliver controlled eye irrigation using standard IV lines.
For those unfamiliar with having to flush out your eyes in an emergency (lucky you), it’s a fiddly and uncomfortable process with current tools. Nathan’s sister – a nurse who has worked in ED, ICU, and remote Indigenous health – highlighted how frustrating and ineffective the existing systems can be. That’s when Nathan stepped in.
Hydromask is lightweight, ergonomic, and far less invasive, offering a practical solution that could save precious time in high-pressure medical settings. It also allows clinicians to monitor treatment effectively while keeping patients clean and dry – solving some of the biggest challenges with current tools.
Maximilian O’Brien – Rethinking the way we sleep
Finally, RMIT’s Maximilian O’Brien looked at something as ordinary as a discarded mattress on the side of the road and thought: there has to be a better way. And so Flow was born – the world’s first fully recyclable mattress system.
The genius part is that Flow can be disassembled in just 30 seconds. It swaps out landfill-heavy materials for a mono-material lattice design that provides zoned support, comfort, and breathability. This means, you still get a dreamy night’s sleep, but without the guilt of adding another bulky mattress to landfill.
By replacing landfill-bound materials with a mono-material lattice, Flow delivers multi-zoned support and breathability while enabling a truly circular sleep solution. Maximilian’s project isn’t just eco-friendly, it’s an eye-opener. It shows how rethinking everyday objects can spark revolutionary changes in industries we often overlook. He’s not just designing a mattress; he’s creating a circular sleep solution that might one day put an end to mattress mountains at the tip.
Why these wins matter
All three winners – Hannah, Nathan, and Maximilian – now progress to the international stage of the James Dyson Award. If successful, they’ll have the chance to take home over $59,000 AUD to bring their prototypes to life. The international Top 20 shortlist will be announced on 15th October, with the global winners revealed on 5th November by James Dyson himself.
But the bigger picture is that these three aren’t just students with shiny prototypes – they’re changemakers. Each one looked at a problem, from global health crises to landfill waste, and instead of shrugging, they rolled up their sleeves and designed a fix. Not bad for a trio who aren’t even out of their twenties.
So, next time someone says “young people don’t care,” point them to this National James Dyson Award winning trio. Because from where we’re standing, the future looks very bright – and just a little bit genius.