‘A great experience’: Dublin student’s team wins University Challenge

A Dubliner studying for a PhD in computer science at Imperial College, London, was a member of the four-man team that won the final of the BBC's University Challenge on Monday.

Conor McMeel, who is currently studying from home in Lucan while his university remains closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, said he had thoroughly enjoyed the experience of taking part in the popular quiz show.

On Monday night he watched the final of the competition from his home in Dublin. “My family knew we had won ahead of time but they loved watching it back on TV.”

His father was actually sitting in the live audience when his son’s team took on students from Corpus Christi, Cambridge, for the final which was recorded before coronavirus restrictions came into effect.

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"It was intimidating at first when you see all the lights come on and you realise you're the focus of the camera," said the 26-year-old. "I panicked a bit. Jeremy Paxman does have that aura of being able to intimidate but he's actually very nice. It took me most of the first episode to settle in but after that it was a lot of fun."

While his expertise lies in computer science and maths (he has an undergraduate from Trinity College and a Masters from Oxford in Maths), Mr McMeel says he felt confident answering questions on a wide range of topics. His team also prepared by focusing on subjects they knew the least about ahead of the competition.

“I try and read a lot and I spent a lot of time on Wikipedia. English was my second choice on the CAO so I’ve always liked things apart from maths. Our team, we gathered together after we were selected and decided to read a lot on the topics we were bad at.”

In order to be selected for the competition, Imperial College, which last won University Challenge in 2001, held a written examination followed by a mock quiz tournament.

McMeel was recently involved in setting the examination for next year’s team. Around 150 students apply to take part and this is narrowed down to 20 students who are invited to participate in the on-campus quiz. The top four students go on to represent the university on the BBC.

Mr McMeel returned to Ireland a few weeks ago following a research trip to Japan which was cut short because of the spread of Covid-19. He plans to stay in Ireland with his family until the worst of the pandemic had passed. “I live in Chelsea which is very much in the centre of London so it’s nice to be here and not in a cramped flat. It’s also a lot less stressful being here and seemed safer on all fronts.”