More than 2,600 students sign up for All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad

Do you think you could be Ireland’s top young problem solver? Join the more than 2,600 Irish secondary school students who have already signed up for the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad 2017. The linguistic code-breaking contest aims to identify Ireland’s top young problem solver. Register before 20^th January 2017 at www.adaptcentre.ie/ailo

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, TD, recently launched the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad 2017 (AILO 2017), a nationwide search for Ireland’s top young problem solver.

AILO challenges secondary school students to develop their own problem-solving strategies to decode the world’s toughest puzzles in language, logic and linguistics. The contest has attracted 14,000 participants since its launch in 2009.

Previous problems include deciphering little-known forms of sign language used by monks, interpreting Sanskrit poetry, and decrypting numerical spy codes. No previous knowledge of linguistics or foreign lanaguages is required as contestants must rely instead on logic and lateral thinking. AILO aims to inspire students to pursue careers at the combining computing and language.

AILO is a key element of the nationwide Problem-Solving Initiative (www.problemsolving.ie). The initiative, run by the ADAPT Centre, aims to foster the next generation of skilled problem solvers for Ireland.

The impact of AILO is reflected in the strong performance of Team Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad 2016 in Mysore, India in July 2016. Claire O’Connor (17) from St. Louis High School, Rathmines beat 180 contestants from 30 countries to secure a bronze medal. Dónal Farren (17) of St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny and Pádraig Sheehy (16) of Gonzaga College, Ranelagh won Honourable Mention awards.

The top eight students in the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad 2017 will be selected to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad 2017 (www.iol2017.ie), which will be hosted by ADAPT at Dublin City University from 31^st July to 4^th August 2017.