Meet the James Dyson Award Top 20 shortlist judges for 2023

In September, the James Dyson Award revealed its national winners and runners-up, across 30 countries and regions. Young inventors yet again showed their ability to create pioneering technology that can change lives, and yesterday we announced this year’s shortlist, whittled down from almost 2,000 entries to the Top 20.

To create the shortlist, 14 Dyson engineers, scientists and designers from around the world gathered to review the national winners and runners-up and curate the very best. The shortlisted entrants will have the chance to become a global winner and receive £30,000 to take their inventions to the next stage.

Our judging panel represents a diversity of knowledge and expertise within Dyson’s research, design and development teams. They specialise across a broad range of engineering fields including sustainability, electronics, manufacturing, acoustics and energy storage. They were also joined by undergraduates from the Dyson Institute of Engineering Technology, contributing to varied and insightful discussions.

Get to know the James Dyson Award judges

Dr John McGarva

Head of Design Engineering, Singapore

Dr John McGarva is the Head of Design Engineering for Haircare at Dyson. He is also the chairman of the James Dyson Award Top 20 judging panel.

“Leading the James Dyson Award judging panel for three years has been an insightful opportunity – every year we have discovered real gems offering innovative and sustainable solutions real world problems, invented by young people from all over the world.”

Rachael Pink

Head of Technology Development, UK

Rachael is the Head of Technology Development in the UK at Dyson. Having joined Dyson in 2010, she oversees the development of performance characteristics across all Dyson products.

“The James Dyson Award gives young inventors from across the world a platform to get their ideas seen. For the winners, it also brings funding opportunities from the media exposure they receive, enabling them to take their ideas further and into viable products.”

Hong Fei Hu

Head of Electronics, Singapore

Hong Fei Hu is a Head of Electronics for Dyson in Southeast Asia. He currently leads a team of over 50 hardware engineers across the region to design and develop pioneering hardware solutions.

“It was truly impressive to read through great quality entries, and see the prototyping efforts put into them. Having judges from various countries and backgrounds also allowed for an insightful discussion and debate as we chose this year’s shortlist.”

Freya Moore and Hana Hinton

Undergraduate Engineers, UK

Freya (left) and Hana (right) are final year Undergraduate Engineers at the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology. They spend two days a week studying for the degree apprenticeship, and three days working on live Dyson projects. This summer Freya was in Singapore working alongside Dyson’s design engineering team to develop future new products.

Freya said: “The global reach of the James Dyson Award enables more local, niche or otherwise overlooked problems to reach a wider audience and find creative solutions from the innovators of tomorrow.”

Hana said: “I was really impressed by the calibre of the entrants. We saw fully developed prototypes - products that have been put out in the world and have started to make an impact. It was also rewarding to have discussions with the judges and learn from their diverse backgrounds.”