Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
When many Imperial students envision Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enigmatic campus rich with wildlife and vegetation rarely found at our other sites like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they’re correct – every depiction of Silwood Park holds true!
As a representative of this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I wish to shed light on the student experience, activities, and community at our parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
An overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and featuring environments such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an app designed for mapping and sharing biodiversity insights globally within a naturalist social network, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, while an additional search on eBird indicates 111 bird species documented to this point.
Furthermore, Silwood Park hosts numerous long-term field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the more prominent studies conducted there.
Student life at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students who are keen on projects revolving around ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us belong to various clubs established at Silwood Park. Notable illustrations include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the care of the chickens raised behind our student accommodations
- Book Club – which meets regularly to discuss books of interest on their reading list
- Gardening Club – which oversees the allotments in our communal garden
- Conservation Club – which coordinates nature walks and conservation-related activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the larger Imperial student body, many of us also join and actively engage in activities of clubs based in South Kensington!
Casually, we have clubs participating in sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which take place either in the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or in the indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Apart from club activities and classes, we host multiple community-driven events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and facilitates these activities to promote a lively and engaging student atmosphere! In recent months, we conducted the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community united to share our languages and cultures over several weeks, and we celebrated our annual Chinese New Year gathering at the beginning of the year, where everyone collaborated to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also celebrated community-organized parties commemorating various global festivities (like Carnival) or simply parties held for the love of social gatherings.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, put together by our student community. It’s part of Silwood culture that the individuals who lose the pub quiz will have to host the next one, and I can proudly state I hold the record for the most pub quizzes set this year. Despite my frequent losses due to a lack of general knowledge, there’s always joy to be found with great company and a refreshing pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Although a 30-minute walk from the lively energy of civilization (like the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never come across as dull or insufficient. Beyond the many events and activities, we enjoy a friendly and inclusive community made up of students from all