A PhD (doctor of philosophy) degree is considered the pinnacle of academic achievement. However, it is a long and often expensive path and the dropout rate is high. Having been through the process, Dr Ali Rizvi is well aware of the challenges and this prompted him to team up with machine learning expert, Neri Carcasci to develop Frensei PhDPeer, an AI-powered platform the co-founders say will “transform the PhD journey” and tackle attrition rates, which are currently running at around 70 per cent worldwide.
“Universities globally are silently bleeding millions in resources due to incomplete or substandard research and they are keen to invest in solutions to boost their rankings and research output. This makes Frensei a highly valuable proposition as it addresses a number of the problems around PhD completion, including dropout rates, low research productivity, finding the right academic guidance, publishing and severe student isolation,” Dr Rizvi says.
“Ours is the first AI-powered platform specifically designed for PhD students,” he adds. “What makes it unique is our holistic approach which blends mental wellbeing support with AI-driven research tools and global peer networking. Our platform connects students globally and helps them navigate their research journey more successfully while also equipping universities with the tools to improve communications and research publication rates.”
Rizvi’s background is in computer engineering and he has corporate experience in B2B sales and a doctorate in entrepreneurship from Trinity College Dublin. He is also an associate professor of entrepreneurship at the American College Dublin.
“For the past 18 months I have been focused on optimising research output and enhancing collaboration in the academic sector by leveraging AI. Completing a PhD is like climbing Everest and I have witnessed first-hand the dire isolation and inefficiencies faced by PhD students,” says Rizvi who met his co-founder through a founder’s website in 2023. Carcasci previously worked for EY and already has a successful edtech start-up under his belt.
“For example, the current rejection rate for manuscripts is around 90 per cent, often because the way something is written or presented doesn’t align with the publication’s requirements. This is an issue because successful research and publishing are crucial to rankings,” Rizvi says.
“Our AI will take care of this particular problem by tweaking the format to fulfil the necessary criteria. In addition, our solution helps provide students with the structure they often find difficult to create for themselves and it provides insights into the pathways to future employment. In short, Frensei puts all the elements involved on a single screen where problems can be nipped in the bud before they escalate.”
There are both B2B and B2C strands to Frensei’s business model. In broad terms, the B2B aspect is aimed at streamlining and improving relationship management between the university, the student and their supervisor while the B2C element is based around a student support app.
The subscription fee for students will be around €8 per month while the average licence fee for a university or other third level institution will run at roughly €75,000. Rizvi says it would make sense for different departments to pool their resources to buy it.
FrenseiPhDPeer is based in Dublin and employs eight people between full-time staff and interns. Investment to date has been bootstrapped at €50,000 with support from the New Frontiers programme at TU Dublin Tallaght and prize money from success in various business competitions.
The company has plans for an investment in the order of €500,000 this year. Platform pilots in Ireland, Canada and India are already under way with a healthy pipeline of pre-registrations as Frensei won’t have its official launch until next month.
“Our main competition comes from traditional on-campus peer support groups as well as general academic software solutions. However, no other solution offers our combination of a collaborative global PhD ecosystem coupled with the optimisation of publication success,” Rizvi says.
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