Jillian Miller with her design, Somnum. Photo / Supplied

A special anaesthetic face mask for pets designed by a New Zealander has made it on to the shortlist for a global engineering and design award.

A medical bassinet to improve post-natal care is also a New Zealand invention that made it into the top 20 of the James Dyson Award.

The two Kiwi entrants who earned a spot on the shortlist are Wellington women Sarah Lakomy and Jillian Miller. They are both Massey University graduates.

Miller designed a series of pet-friendly anaesthesia masks called Somnum, uniquely shaped to fit a variety of domestic animals. The design aims to reduce waste gas leaks during veterinary procedures.

Entering the award gave Miller an opportunity to bring a project she loved to life and create exposure for the problem and her invention, she said.

"Somnum started while I was volunteering at the Wellington SPCA, stemming from conversations with female nurses about what could be improved in the clinic. Anaesthesia masks and waste gases were always the first answer."

When Miller researched the issue, she realised how "large and dangerous" the problem of waste gases was.

"Having the opportunity to tackle a design problem that could save lives is extremely motivating and inspiring," she said.

Lakomy's design, Hatch, is a medical bassinet designed to reduce the physical demands on mothers who have limited mobility in the postpartum period.

The pod can reach perpendicular to a mother's bed for safe and less strenuous interactions. Hatch can support critical care tasks such as feeding, nappy changing, medical check ups, and skin to skin contact.

Lakomy was announced as the James Dyson national award winner for New Zealand last month.

She said the award was "an inspiring resource for my design work throughout my studies".

"I was motivated to enter this year to hopefully inspire conversations about equitable and empathetic approaches to design.

"The purpose of this design is to create conversation and innovation in women's healthcare, a field which has historically been side-lined, to create a product designed by women, with women, for women."

There were 87 James Dyson Award national finalists to choose from for the shortlist, a task given to 15 Dyson engineers, scientists and designers.

"It's always fascinating to see the range of challenges from around the world, particularly ones that highlight problems that I wasn't previously aware of," said principal engineer Kay Yeong.

"It is great when entrants from different places hone in on similar problems but take very different approaches to solving them."

Dyson sustainability engineer Sam Dill said to get on the shortlist designers needed to show they were solving an "actual problem".

"There must be evidence of real-world research and analytical thinking, with iterative prototyping and testing to refine and show that a concept stands up to scrutiny and has the potential to make a difference on a large scale."

The global winners will be announced on November 16. The winner will receive up to $59,000 to further develop their invention.

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