A pioneering team at Trinity College Dublin has secured €500,000 in funding to build an artificial intelligence-powered platform aimed at transforming how teachers deliver feedback and assess students, while helping ease pressure on overstretched educators.
The project, named Diotima, is being developed by education researchers and technologists supported by Trinity’s Learnovate Centre, a global leader in learning innovation.
Backed by Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund, the team aims to create an AI-driven system that helps teachers provide personalised, formative feedback, especially in busy classrooms where time and resources are limited.
Co-founder Siobhan Ryan, a former biochemist who retrained as a secondary school teacher, came up with the idea for Diotima based on her own experience in the classroom.
“Class sizes are large, time is limited, and feedback often gets reduced to marks or generic comments,” she said.
“With the right technology, we can help teachers give the kind of feedback that truly helps students grow — in a way that’s transparent, responsible and empowering.”
Ryan now leads learning development for the project, while her co-founder Jonathan Dempsey brings EdTech business expertise as former CEO of Digitary and a veteran of international education firms.
(l-r): Learnovate Centre Director Nessa McEniff; Diotima Commercial Lead and co-founder Jonathan Dempsey; and Diotima Learning Lead and co-founder Siobhan Ryan
Together, the duo balances hands-on teaching knowledge with commercial know-how.
With the €500,000 boost, Diotima is moving quickly.
Two AI researchers have already been hired, with a prototype platform due to launch in September 2025.
Two major trials will follow as the team seeks further investment and prepares for a possible company spin-out by 2026.
The platform is being designed to generate real-time, formative feedback, helping students improve during the learning process rather than just after the fact.
“Our goal is to improve learning outcomes and reduce teacher burnout,” Dempsey explained.
“But we’re equally focused on trust and ethics — the system is being built from the ground up to comply with the EU AI Act and meet high standards of transparency.”
The project is supported by a strong academic team, including Associate Professor Ann Devitt, head of Trinity’s School of Education, and Professor Carl Vogel, an expert in computational linguistics. Their research is central to ensuring the platform is both effective and evidence-based.
Learnovate Centre Director Nessa McEniff described Diotima as “revolutionary,” with potential to improve teaching outcomes across both schools and professional education.
Enterprise Ireland’s Marina Donohoe praised it as a “prime example of Irish innovation at its best,” combining academic excellence, technological innovation, and strong commercial potential.
The team has also assembled an advisory group of teachers and education leaders to ensure the tool reflects the real-world needs of those in the classroom.
Ryan says the goal is simple: “We want to make it easier for teachers to teach and for students to learn.”
With its first launch just months away, Diotima is positioning itself as one of the most closely watched EdTech developments in Ireland and possibly far beyond.