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Monash student design in national spotlight

29 March 2006

Monash industrial design graduate Ms Maria Raciti has made the final cut in Australia's leading student design awards for an invention to streamline the way emergency medical staff work in the field.

Ms Raciti's invention, a wearable vest that holds first-aid equipment, is one of 12 finalists in the Australian Design Award -- Dyson Student Award. It was part of her fourth-year honours project, completed last year.

The Medi-Vest, which has two adjustable front pockets and other wearable compartments, allows medical personnel to move around easily while assisting injured patients.

Ms Raciti, whose inspiration to design a product for the emergency medical field came after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, modelled the design on fly-fishing vests after extensive interviews with a range of emergency medical practitioners.

"Medi-Vest offers an innovative solution to the problems posed by current first-aid kits," she said. "It's hands-free, so medical professionals no longer have to carry their equipment in tool boxes or backpacks. It's also light-weight and easy to wear."

Ms Raciti, who now works at Bayly as an industrial designer, said she hoped the patented Medi-Vest would be on the market within the next couple of years.

"The Red Cross and St John Ambulance are interested clients," she said.

She said it was an honour to be shortlisted as a finalist and hoped it would help boost the Medi-Vest's profile. "It's great to see it out there in public view."

The Dyson Student Award rewards innovative and distinctive engineering and design from Australia's education sector. This year's finalists were selected from 90 entrants by an international panel of experts in design and technology.

Dyson South-East Asia Managing Director Mr Ross Cameron said the award was about supporting young designers who shared the philosophy of complete design, "developing products that provide significant solutions and don't just focus on the aesthetics".

Monash students have an impressive record in the awards, taking the gold prize in two of the past four years and last year winning silver and bronze.

The winners will share in a $10,000 prize pool, to be announced on 19 May at an award presentation in Sydney.

For more information, visit the Medi-Vest website, Australian Design Awards website.