Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When many Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they imagine a vibrant, enigmatic, and verdant campus filled with wildlife and plants that aren’t often found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – every representation of Silwood Park holds true!
As a representative of this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I aim to showcase the student experience, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
An overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and encompassing environments such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and open fields. A straightforward search on iNaturalist, an app designed for mapping and sharing biodiversity observations globally among a network of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, and a further examination on eBird reveals that 111 bird species have been noted thus far.
Interestingly, Silwood Park is also the venue for numerous long-term field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project standing out as two of the more recognized studies conducted on-site.
Student experiences at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students focused on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us belong to various clubs based at Silwood Park. Notable examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – who meet regularly to discuss literature from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – who oversee the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – who coordinate nature walks and conservation activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also engage and frequently attend events for clubs based in South Kensington!
Additionally, we have informal clubs that participate in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which are held either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) located on campus or at indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club activities and classes, we enjoy numerous community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and supports such initiatives to maintain a lively and engaging student environment! Recently, we hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community united to share languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year gathering at the start of the year, where everyone came together to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. Community-organized parties celebrating various global festivities (like Carnival) or simply for enjoyment have also taken place.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student body. It’s a tradition at Silwood that the quiz losers must arrange the following quiz, and I can proudly boast the highest number of quizzes arranged this year. Even though I’ve lost countless quizzes due to my lack of general trivia knowledge, there’s always plenty of fun to be had with good friends and a refreshing pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Although it’s situated a 30-minute walk from the lively pulse of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or unexciting. Apart from the numerous events and activities, we enjoy a friendly and inclusive community made up of students from all around the globe. We all cherish nature, love