A.I.L.O. – FIRST in IRELAND

L-R: Zach Lumley, Caoimhe Gannon, Phillip Krause, Rebecca Maye, Ewen Lynch, Elisha Leoncio, AILO team members.

The All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) is the problem solvers’ challenge. The national contest sees secondary school students develop their own strategies for solving complex problems in unfamiliar languages from around the globe. No prior knowledge of linguistics or foreign languages is required. Even the hardest problems require only logical ability, patient work and a willingness to think around corners. AILO introduces students to the application of logic and linguistics (i.e. the study of human language) to problems of language understanding and translation.

The goal is to develop students’ problem-solving skills and to inspire them to consider the fascinating range of careers at the intersection of computing, language and linguistics. AILO is run by The ADAPT Centre for Digital Content Technology (www.adaptcentre.ie). ADAPT is a multidisciplinary academia-industry research centre funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and comprising 130 researchers at Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, University College Dublin and Dublin Institute of Technology.

5^th Year  students C. Gannon, Z. Lumley, P. Krause, E. Lynch, R. Maye, E. Leoncio participated in the inaugural AILO team. Those who qualified for the second round were E. Lynch awarded a Bronze medal, C. Gannon being commended, and P. Krause coming FIRST PLACE in IRELAND, to participate at International level later in the year, supported by Mrs. Kerins, Guidance Counsellor.