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Registration for AILO 2024/2025
Registration for AILO 2024/5 is now open. It is open to all secondary schools students on the island. Sign up so you can access free workshops around the country from September to December and receive monthly sample puzzles. The preliminary round of AILO takes place in your own school in January and the final will place in Dublin in March. This year students will compete to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad in Taipei, Taiwan in July 2025. You can read the AILO Brochure 2024 Web for more details.
About AILO
AILO challenges secondary school students to test their minds against the world’s
most fascinating problems in logic, language and linguistics. New training materials and the
brochure have been produced thanks to funding from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts,
Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Cooperation with Northern Ireland scheme. AILO selects the
Irish team for the International Linguistics Olympiad which will be held in Taipei, Taiwan in July 2025. Students may only take part in one national linguistics olympiad in a calendar year.
Linguistics Module
AILO also has a free linguistics Transition Year (TY) module. The module, funded by Post-Primary
Languages Ireland (PPLI) in 2022 and designed by ADAPT researchers, AILO and AILO teachers, is
designed as teacher-led online resources, hosted on https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/tylinguisticsmodule/.
The module introduces areas such as sociolinguistics and syntax and links to a related AILO puzzle. To
register your interest in the module and be eligible for participation certificates, please go to
https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/tylinguisticsmodule/. Please note, all secondary school students and
teachers may use these materials in their classes.
Timeline
Sept – Dec 2024: Sample puzzles available at https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/puzzles/
September 2024: Free Linguistics Module https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/ty-linguistics-module/
Nov – Dec 2024: Free workshops in schools in locations around the island and online
17th Jan 2025: Registration closes
Week 21st Jan 2025: Preliminary Round takes place in your own school via online submission form
March 2025: Top 100 qualify for National Final in Dublin City University
July 2025: Top four represent Ireland at the International Olympiad in Taipei, Taiwan
Ireland Wins Honourable Mention at International Linguistics Olympiad in Brazil
(L – R, Patrick Chen, Eliška Dvořáková, Dáithí de Buitléir, Paddy Clancy)
The Irish team is made up of the top four students from the 2024 All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) which is run by ADAPT, the SFI Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology, at the School of Computing, Dublin City University.
The team members are Paddy Clancy (18) from St Vincent’s Castleknock, Dáithí de Buitléir (18) from Coachford College Cork, Eliška Dvořáková (18) from St Kilian’s Deutsche Schule and Patrick Chen (17) from St. Gerard’s School. Paddy Clancy won an honourable mention in the Individual Round.
In the IOL, the students come up against 200 of the top linguistic problem-solvers, from 38 countries, and territories to tackle some of the toughest puzzles in logic and linguistics in little-known languages from all over the globe. The students faced a 6-hour individual round paper on Friday July 26th They also sat a challenging 4-hour team round on Monday July 29th. Well done to the whole team. They have all done us so proud!
The AILO finals see teenagers solve puzzles that require lateral thinking skills and the ability to think outside the box. Students must analyse the language data they are given to work out the ‘rules’ of the new language. These transferable skills are critical in preparing young people for a wide range of careers in computing, linguistics and language.
Sample puzzles from the Olympiad can be downloaded at https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/sample-puzzles/
AILO 2023 Materials
AILO 2023 Preliminary Round Materials
AILO 2023 National Final Materials
AILO 2022/2023 Sample Puzzles
AILO Sample Puzzles
AILO Winners 2023
| Year | Prize | Name | School | Note |
| 2023 | AILO Champion | Naoise Sheridan | Tullamore College | IOL Team |
| 2nd Place | Finn Wallace | CBC Monkstown | IOL Team | |
| 3rd Place | Paddy Clancy | St. Vincent’s Castleknock | IOL Team | |
| 4th Place | Megan Clancy | Ursuline Secondary School | IOL Team | |
| 2023 | Junior Champion | Michael Costello | St.Kilian’s Deutsche School | 7th Overall |
| 2nd Place | Gráinne Scott | Presentation Community College | ||
| 3rd Place | Daniel Scally | Tullamore College | ||
| 4th Place | Oisín Sheridan | Tullamore College | ||
| 2023 | Team Winners | Victoria Gulelauri | St.Kilian’s Deutsche School | |
| Eliska Dvorakova | ||||
| Michael Costello | ||||
| Nathan Raffelt Smyth |
IOL 2023
The 4 members of the Irish team who will represent Ireland at the 20th anniversary IOL in Bansko, Bulgaria are (left to right) :
- Paddy Clancy St Vincent’s Castleknock, Dublin
- Naoise Sheridan Tullamore College,Offaly
- Megan Boland Ursuline Secondary School, Thurles, Tipperary
- Finn Wallace CBC Monkstown, Dublin
28 July 2023: Paddy Clancy has taken home an honourable mention from the International Linguistics Olympiad for the Irish team which took place in Bansko, Bulgaria this week.