Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students imagine Silwood Park, they picture a verdant, enchanting, and green campus filled with wildlife and plants not typically found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – every depiction of Silwood Park holds true!
As a voice for this lesser-known group at Imperial, I want to shed light on the student experience, events, and community at our natural parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
Introducing Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and featuring habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, a “primeval” forest, and expansive grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application designed for mapping and sharing biodiversity sightings worldwide within a social network of naturalists, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, while an additional investigation on eBird indicates that 111 species of birds have been identified thus far.
Moreover, Silwood Park is the venue for numerous long-term field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the most prominent studies taking place on-site.
Life as a Student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students passionate about projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us belong to various clubs based at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the care of the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – who meet regularly to engage in discussions about their current reading selections
- Gardening Club – responsible for maintaining the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – who arrange 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 with clubs based in South Kensington!
Casually, we also have groups involved in sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which take place either at the multi-use games area (MUGA) on campus or in local indoor sports halls in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
In addition to clubs and classes, we host numerous community-driven events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council responsible for organizing and facilitating such activities to ensure a lively and dynamic student experience! Recently, we hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community gathered to exchange languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year at the beginning of the year, where everyone participated in making dumplings and couplets to welcome in the new lunar year. We’ve also enjoyed community-organized parties celebrating various global festivities (like Carnival), or just parties for the joy of it.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, coordinated by our student community. It’s a Silwood tradition that the losers of the pub quiz must organize the next one, and I can proudly assert that I have set up the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Despite failing many pub quizzes due to my lack of trivia knowledge, there’s always plenty of enjoyment to be found in the company of good friends and a refreshing pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively buzz of civilization (like the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or deficient. Beyond the myriad of events and activities, we have a friendly and inviting community made up of students from