Maynooth University graduate Zo\u00eb O’Sullivan has been named the Irish national winner of this year’s James Dyson Award for her invention “Lymphia”, a device that allows patients to perform lymphatic drainage independently.<\/p>\n
The international competition is for engineering and design students and recent graduates, with a focus on ambitious designs that address everyday problems or global issues.<\/p>\n
Lymphatic drainage therapy is essential for people living with conditions such as lipedema and lymphoedema.<\/p>\n
Current solutions often rely on compression devices or professional massages with a physiotherapist.<\/p>\n
Both can be costly, time-consuming, and typically require attending appointments outside the home.<\/p>\n
Lymphia is a home-use device designed to empower patients to perform Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD) independently.<\/p>\n
The device uses 10mm steel balls, carefully sized to be perceptible on skin while small enough to precisely stimulate individual lymphatic vessels.<\/p>\n
Ms O’Sullivan’s inspiration began with a friend suffering from lymphoedema in their legs, for whom MLD was the only viable therapy.<\/p>\n
Her personal experience deepened this understanding.<\/p>\n
After undergoing breast reduction surgery, Ms O’Sullivan struggled with haematomas and fluid retention due to the complicated healing process.<\/p>\n
For her, MLD became an essential part of recovery.<\/p>\n
She witnessed first-hand how the condition can affect body image and self-esteem, and how compression garments, despite their effectiveness, can be uncomfortable to wear.<\/p>\n
“I’m thrilled to have won the National James Dyson Award with Lymphia,” Ms O’Sullivan said.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s amazing to see my work recognised and celebrated in this way.”<\/p>\n
“Knowing that Lymphia has the potential to improve so many lives and help reduce the stigma around Lymphoedema means so much to me,” she added.<\/p>\n
Ms O’Sullivan plans to use her \u20ac6,000 prize money to fund a patent application for her design.<\/p>\n
Lymphia will now progress to the international stage of the James Dyson Award.<\/p>\n
The international top 20 shortlist will be announced in October, with the international winners announced in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maynooth University graduate Zo\u00eb O’Sullivan has been named the Irish national winner of this year’s James Dyson Award…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-11930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}