LAST UPDATE | 12 May 2025

Captain of Christ's College, Cambridge's team in the BBC's University Challenge, Dubliner Oscar Despard. BBC BBC

DUBLIN STUDENT OSCAR Despard has won in the prestigious BBC quiz show University Challenge following a closely-contested final.

The 22-year-old Dubliner captained the Christ’s College team from Cambridge University. Despard led his team to a 175-170 win against the University of Warwick. 

Following the win, Despard and his team were presented the University Challenge trophy by actor Ian McKellen.

Depard’s victory marks the first University Challenge win for Christ’s College in the programme’s 63-year history.

Despard's team won a narrow victory in the show's final this evening. BBC BBC

University Challenge is a long-running quiz show in which teams comprising students from universities in the UK battle it out, answering questions about esoteric topics. 

In the recent semi-final, Despard’s team competed against the University of Bristol for a place in the final; Bristol’s team was also captained by a Dubliner, 28-year-old Kevin Flanagan. 

Belfast’s Queen’s University made it as far as the quarter-finals. 

Despard, who is studying for his PhD in molecular biology, was joined by teammates Brendan Bethlehem, Linus Luu, and Anniko Firman. 

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He told The Irish Times that the four put together a big spreadsheet covering around 200 topics that were likely to come up in the programme and then divided the categories between themselves. 

Humanitarian aid organisation Concern wished Despard and his team luck on X this afternoon. In 2019, he captained his school’s team in the finals of the Concern Debates.

The student attended Sandford Park School in Ranelagh, Dublin, where he was one of just two students in the country to achieve 9 H1s in his Leaving Cert in 2021. 

Additional reporting by Andrew Walsh