Diotima – the Irish start-up building a new AI platform for education – to spin out from Trinity College Dublin

• Platform enables teachers and other educators to use responsible AI to easily create assessments and individualised feedback
• Diotima is supported by The Learnovate Centre at Trinity College Dublin
• Founder – teacher Siobhan Ryan – to become company’s Chief Product Officer

The project was supported by The Learnovate Centre, a global research and innovation centre in learning technology in Trinity College Dublin.

Diotima supports teaching practice by using responsible AI to provide learners with feedback, leading to more and better assessments and improved learning outcomes for students, and a more manageable workload for teachers and tutors.

The Diotima platform was developed from scratch to meet the exacting requirements of Annex III of the EU AI Act, which has strict regulations around how you can use AI in high-risk sectors – such as education.

Now the company – Diotima – is ready to spin out as a company.

The company will continue engaging with prospective customers to get a deep understanding of their needs and of how Diotima can best go to market and will be seeking investment.

Diotima is also today announcing that EdTech commercialisation specialist Jonathan Dempsey will become CEO of the new company while founder and former secondary school teacher, biochemist and environmental scientist Siobhan Ryan will become Chief Product Officer. The initial team will be completed with Development Engineer Daniel Fernandez and AI Engineer Dr Long Mai, who both worked on the project.

The idea for Diotima came from Siobhan who, after a 12-year career in the brewing industry with Diageo, re-trained as a secondary school teacher.  Her experience in the classroom made her realise that she could have a greater impact by leveraging AI to create a platform to support teachers in a safe, transparent, and empowering way.

Diotima made the announcements at a packed showcase at the Trinity Innovation Hub in Dublin in front of invited guests and supporters of the new company.

The showcase featured a talk from Dr Ann Devitt, Head of TCD School of Education and Academic Director of the Learnovate Centre, who was also a Principal Investigator on the project. It also included a panel discussion, chaired by Learnovate Impact, Licensing & Commercialisation Manager Tom Pollock with Diotima trial partners: Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI), Stepaside Educate Together Secondary School and Malahide Community School, and the Law Society of Ireland.

AI regulatory compliance expert Dr Eoin Lane — who was former Global Head of AI and Data Science at the Bank of New York Mellon – is a Governance Consultant to the Diotima project. He launched his White Paper, produced in partnership with Learnovate, on Compliance-Grade AI Infrastructure for Formative Assessment in Education, which used Diotima as a best-practice case study, at the showcase.

Diotima began its partnership with Learnovate in February 2025 and received the €500,000 funding under Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund, which supports third-level researchers to translate their research into innovative and commercially viable products, services and companies.

Diotima founder and CPO Siobhan Ryan says:

“We are so delighted to have achieved such a significant milestone in our journey. This all started when I was working as a teacher and I had a vision for how AI could enhance teaching and learning even before any of the models like ChatGPT launched. I then worked with Tom Pollock and Learnovate to develop this vision into a real-world project. Tom introduced me to Jonathan Dempsey for his edtech commercial expertise, and he worked as Commercial Lead on the project.

“I am delighted to announce that Jonathan will be joining the company as CEO as we spin out and I take on the role of Chief Product Officer. Together, we aim to position Diotima as a leader in responsible AI for education.

“We’re extremely grateful to Learnovate for guiding us through the process; it’s been an excellent experience, one that has exceeded our expectations.”

Learnovate Impact, Licensing & Commercialisation Manager Tom Pollock says:

“We are delighted to have collaborated with the Diotima team from the start of their journey to this exciting phase of growth. Using responsible AI, Diotima promises to develop into a revolutionary platform for learners in secondary schools and professional education organisations, delivering formative feedback and better outcomes overall. We look forward to seeing what they will achieve.”