London:

Imperial College London’s quiz team, consisting of Sourajit Debnath, a Computing Science graduate from Kolkata, has won the University Challenge trophy, known as the UK’s toughest TV quiz competition.

The 31-year-old answered several challenging questions in the final, proving the “unparalleled guidance” of Imperial’s Quiz Association and previous teams was a factor in this year’s impressive victory. Victory in Monday night’s final, broadcast on the BBC, made the London university one of the most successful in the show’s history, winning the coveted trophy for a fifth time – the last time in 2022.

“I’m delighted to be part of UK Testing history and grateful to our team for the opportunity to represent Imperial College in the Championship,” said Debnutt.

Amol Rajan, the British-Indian presenter of the popular BBC show, described Imperial’s victory as “phenomenal”.

At an event at Imperial College London’s South Kensington campus, the team was awarded the University’s Challenge” trophy.

“Imperial’s diverse, international community is used to finding answers to really tough questions, whether in the lab or in University Challenge competitions. I’m extremely proud of our winning team,” said Ian Waugh, Imperial’s Provost Professor Elmsley said.

“Their breadth of knowledge goes well beyond science and is truly impressive, and their rigorous approach to testing has made Imperial College history as the most successful team in the University Challenge,” he said.

To prepare for the challenge, the team spent several months revising their specialist subjects and practicing quizzes as a tight-knit team. Captain Suraiya Haddad said: “I am delighted to have led Imperial College London to a historic fifth victory, making us the winningest institution in the history of the program. We have all worked extremely hard. , and proud of Imperial. “We are all balancing degrees and exams, which in my case were finals.We met a strong opponent from University College London [University College London] He was outstanding throughout the series. The level of support we’ve received from the Empire community and beyond has been amazing, thank you to everyone who cheered us on! ” Imperial College’s team achieved excellent results this year in competitions on multiple topics including classical sculpture, European history, Korean mythology and mathematics. Entering this year’s finals, the team defeated Trinity University of Cambridge in the semi-finals Academy and defeated other teams such as the University of Manchester and the University of Sheffield.

“This year’s Imperial team is unusually well-rounded, with each teammate having their own choice, or to borrow quiz parlance, a major. All else being equal, I cover math, physics, and general science, as well as popular ones in the humanities Culture,” Debnas shared ahead of this week’s finals.

Debnath already holds an MSc in Applied Computational Science and Engineering from the Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering at Imperial College London, choosing to move into computational science after completing his degree.

In India, he is a space scientist at UR Rao Space Center, the spacecraft manufacturing arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), where he worked on the 2019 Indian lunar lander/rover mission Chandrayaan-2 and other space device. After graduating from Imperial College London, he joined an Imperial startup focused on geophysical algorithms operating out of the university’s Royal School of Mines.

Imperial College London says its success is partly down to the expertise of previous teams, as representatives from past seasons have participated in Imperial’s game mentoring programme. Contestants are selected by a College Challenge committee made up of past contestants, and teams are then coached on how to review for different topics and maximize their ability to answer questions quickly.

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