Here you can find all workshop related materials
Here you can find all AILO TY Module Puzzles
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Here you can find all AILO 2016 related materials
(L-R: Jacob Roantree (16), Michael Costello (18), Aidan Alexander (19), and Kirill Korostelev (19) on stage receiving their Team award at the International Linguistics Olympiad on Saturday 1st of August, 2026.)
Ireland won a team award for the first time in the 17-year history of attending the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) in Bucharest, Romania this week. The team received an ‘honourable mention’, placing 9th out of 65 teams (255 students) from 46 countries and territories. Kirill Korostelev, from the Institute of Education, Dublin, won a bronze medal in the individual competition marking Ireland’s fourth bronze win at the International Olympiad. Joining Kirill on the team representing Ireland were Aidan Alexander from St Mac Dara’s Community College, Templeogue; and Jacob Roantree and Michael Costello, both from St Kilian’s German School, Clonskeagh. The Olympiad challenges participants to analyse the grammar, structure, culture, and history of different languages and to demonstrate their linguistic abilities through individual and team puzzles and problem-solving challenges.
Ireland has now won four individual bronze medals, one team honourable mention and ten individual honourable mentions at the International Olympiad since 2009.
The Irish team has been selected via the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) since 2009, which has been run by ADAPT, the Research Ireland Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology, at the School of Computing, Dublin City University. The AILO competition is currently looking for sponsorship opportunties to be able to continue to run the AILO workshop programme and competition for 2026/7 as well as attend the international competition for 2027. Further information is available at https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/sponsor/.
(L-R: Jacob, Michael, Kirill, and Aidan with their awards.)
Each year AILO has over 3,500 students, registered with schools on both sides of the border, attending free island-wide workshops and taking part in the preliminary round and – for some – the national finals. In the workshop programme, students work together, using their problem-solving and lateral thinking skills to work our the rules of a language they have never seen before. They then go on to take part in the competition proper of the AILO where they participate in individual and team rounds. School registration is open at https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/enter/.
Sample puzzles from the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) can be downloaded at https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/sample-puzzles/ and international level puzzles at https://ioling.org/problems/samples/.
The 2026 National AILO final will take plae on Wednesday 4th March in Dublin City University (DCU). The finalists represent 56 secondary schools from 20 counties across the whole island and are competing for the chance to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad in Bucharest, Romania this July. The competition challenges students to apply logic and reasoning to decode unfamiliar languages by analysing 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.
The finalists progressed through a preliminary round, involving nearly 1,000 competitors, held in schools earlier this year. Competing in individual and team rounds, they will vie for the honour to be one of the four winners who will represent Ireland on the international stage in Bucharest this summer.
The results of the AILO final will be released mid-March. For those who want to try the challenge, sample puzzles can be downloaded from https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/sample-puzzles/
AILO Sponsor Call
Having engaged over 55,000 students over the past 18 years, the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad is now seeking a key sponsor to help secure the future of this unique programme and to support its mission of building problem-solving confidence and STEM pathways for thousands of secondary students nationwide. Organisations interested in sponsorship are invited to contact the AILO team at ailo@adaptcentre.ie. More details at https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/sponsor/
Registration for AILO 2025/6 is now open. It is open to all secondary schools students on the island. Sign up so you can access free workshops from October 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 City University in March. This year students will compete to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad in Bucharest, Romania in late July 2026. You can read the AILO Brochure 2025/6 for more details.
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 Culture, Communications and Sport under the Cooperation with Northern Ireland scheme. AILO selects the
Irish team for the International Linguistics Olympiad which will be held in Romania in July 2026. Students may only take part in one national linguistics olympiad in a calendar year.
AILO also has a free linguistics Transition Year (TY) module. The module, funded by Post-Primary
Languages Ireland (PPLI) 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.
Oct – Dec Sample puzzles available at https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/puzzles/
September Free Linguistics Module https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/ty-linguistics-module/
Oct – Dec Free workshops
23rd Jan Registration https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/enter/ for AILO 2026 closes
Week 26th Jan Preliminary Round takes place in your own school via online submission form
March Top 100 qualify for National Final in Dublin City University
July Top four represent Ireland at the International Olympiad in Romania
(L – R, Michael Costello, Patrick Chen, Aidan Alexander and Kevin Lin)
The team representing Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad has just returned from Taipei, Taiwan. The team was made up of Michael Costello (St Kilian’s Deutsche Schule), Aidan Alexander (St Mac Dara’s Community College), Patrick Chen (St Gerard’s School Bray) and Kevin Lin (Adamstown Community College). All four students did us proud with Aidan taking home an honourable mention in the individual competition.
The Irish team is made up of the top four students from the 2025 All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) which is run by ADAPT, the Research Ireland Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology, at the School of Computing, Dublin City University.
In the IOL, the students come up against over 220 of the top linguistic problem-solvers, from 48 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 Tuesday 22nd. They also sat a challenging 4-hour team round on Friday 25th. The students got to take part in IOL traditions like Jeopardy!, Karaoke, a Taipei city tour and a visit out to the coast to the Yehliu Geopark.
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/
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.
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.
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.
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
(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/
Registration for AILO 2023/4 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 Brasilia, Brazil in July 2024. You can read the AILO Brochure 2024 Web for more details.
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 Brasilia, Brazil in July 2024. Students may only take part in one national linguistics olympiad in a calendar year.
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.
Sept – Dec Sample puzzles available at https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/puzzles/
September Free Linguistics Module https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/ty-linguistics-module/
Nov – Dec Free workshops in schools in locations around the island and online
19th Jan Registration https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/enter/ for AILO 2023/4 closes
Week 22 Jan Preliminary Round takes place in your own school via online submission form
March Top 100 qualify for National Final in Dublin City University
July Top four represent Ireland at the International Olympiad in Brasilia in Brazil.