Niall McNulty | AI programmes for education systems

AI programmes for education systems

From ambitious ideas to practical systems.

I design and lead AI, digital-education and professional-learning programmes for ministries, education organisations and the people who deliver them.

Current: Director of Product and Innovation, Sub-Saharan Africa, Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Based in Cape Town, working globally.

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Education systemsPolicy, capability and implementation

AI productsSafe, useful and evidence-led

Programme designFrom learning architecture to delivery

Applied researchGrounded in real education contexts

Selected work

Work that connects strategy and delivery

Recent programmes span system leadership, AI-assisted publishing, teacher capability and education-policy implementation.

Featured case study

Digital Education Leadership Programme

Five months, seven modules and more than 40 education leaders from 17 countries, connecting global frameworks to national digital-education decisions.

Read the DELP case study

African Union ECOSOCC · Nairobi · July 2026

AI capacity-building for African civil society

I designed and delivered the first ECOSOCC-Cambridge workshop: 50 places from more than 1,200 applications, focused on practical AI for funding, delivery and reporting.

Read the ECOSOCC case study

National publishing transformation · 2025

AI-assisted publishing

A governed retrieval-augmented workflow helped a ministry publishing programme respond to a significantly compressed timetable while keeping subject and editorial review in the loop.

See the project overview

KFAS, Kuwait · 2025 to 2026

Future Educator: AI for STEM teachers

Cambridge technical lead for a blended programme with 50 STEM teachers, workshops at Kuwait University and a train-the-trainer cohort.

Read the KFAS case study

Cambridge and HP · 2024 to 2026

EdTech Fellowship

Technical consultant and facilitator for a five-month hybrid programme for senior education leaders, including the annual Cambridge residency week.

Read the Fellowship case study

Assessment Network · 2025 to present

Designing Assessments with AI

Accredited three-session series that I designed and have delivered to four cohorts, keeping expert judgement in the loop.

Read the course case study

Cambridge Publishing Manager · Zambia · 2023

Local-language readers for Let’s Read

Project lead for Cambridge’s early-grade readers in seven Zambian languages, supporting USAID Let’s Read with more than 1.4 million books.

Read the Zambia case study

Digital Publishing Manager · Worldreader · 2014

African-language readers on feature phones

I initiated Cambridge South Africa’s first technology-NGO partnership, putting 390 e-books including the Cambridge African Language Library onto Worldreader’s mobile app.

Read the Worldreader case study

Independent lab · ongoing

NiallOS

A personal operating system for context, decisions and agent-assisted work. It is a live laboratory for learning how AI can support complex professional practice.

Explore NiallOS

Writing

Latest writing

AI literacy in African schools: from policy ambition to classroom learningOctober 5, 2026
Using Ghana’s proposed primary curriculum as a case, what children should learn about AI, how schools should assess it, and what teachers need to make AI literacy work in the classroom.
ChatGPT won’t fix education systems. But it has become shorthand for AI.September 12, 2026
ChatGPT has become shorthand for AI, but no single tool will fix education systems. For ministries, publishers and NGOs, the real questions are about approval, data, capability and delivery.
What AI means for Mzansi’s classroomsSeptember 10, 2026
What AI means for South African classrooms: practical thoughts for teachers, school leaders and education systems from the Lefa AI in Education initiative.
What 28 AI Readiness Assessments Reveal About Schools in GhanaFebruary 27, 2026
Part of: AI Readiness for Schools: A Practical Framework for African and Global South Contexts, which explains the framework behind these results and how to use it. On … Read more
The question is not which AI tools to buyFebruary 23, 2026
What 200 school leaders in Ghana taught me about AI readiness “How many of you have a written AI policy for your school?” I asked this to a … Read more
Your School Isn’t Behind on AI. You Just Don’t Have a Map Yet.February 6, 2026
A practical readiness framework for international schools in Sub-Saharan Africa I spend a lot of time talking to school leaders about AI. Principals in Zimbabwe and South Africa, … Read more

Browse by topic: AI literacy and policy · AI products and workflows · AI readiness and leadership · Digital heritage and community · Digital publishing and learning materials · Teaching, learning and assessment

Need a practical route from AI ambition to delivery?

I work with education organisations, development partners and professional teams on strategy, programme design, governed pilots and implementation.

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