An Irish-designed wristband intended to help protect mental health nurses has reached the global Top 20 of the James Dyson Award 2026. Invented by Technological University Dublin graduate Ella Flanagan, Noli is designed to let healthcare staff discreetly call for help when they feel unsafe.

The official James Dyson Award shortlist describes Noli as a wristband that alerts the nearest available colleagues. The wearer activates it with a pull-and-hold action, offering an alternative to emergency systems that may be difficult to reach or activate discreetly during a tense situation.

According to RTÉ’s report on Flanagan’s achievement, the invention has progressed to the final stage of the international competition, where it will be reviewed by inventor James Dyson. The global winners are due to be announced on 4 November 2026, with the winning entry receiving £30,000.

The recognition puts an Irish product-design project before an international audience, while drawing attention to a practical health and safety challenge: how staff can summon assistance quickly in mental health care settings. The Noli project profile explains that Flanagan was motivated by accounts of workplace assaults involving members of her family who work in mental health nursing.

Flanagan plans to continue developing and testing the wristband while progressing its patent application and engaging with healthcare innovators, RTÉ reported. That work will be important in determining how the design performs in practice and how it might fit into existing clinical procedures.

The award shortlisting is a mark of design recognition, not evidence that Noli has been adopted by healthcare providers or independently proven to reduce workplace assaults. Further evaluation will be needed to establish its reliability, usability and suitability for different care environments.

For hospitals and healthcare organisations, the project highlights how product design can respond to specific staff-safety needs. If further development and testing demonstrate that the system works reliably, a proximity-based alert could become one option for providers reviewing how employees request assistance during emergencies.

For the sector, the lesson is direct: innovation grounded in a real workplace challenge can bring fresh ideas into the conversation about staff safety, while careful testing remains essential to moving a promising design towards practical use.

Source: RTÉ / James Dyson Award / Noli project profile