Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with a focus on Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
When most Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they imagine a vibrant, enigmatic, and green campus brimming with animals and plants not typically found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they’re correct – every depiction of Silwood Park is true!
As a voice for this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I wish to showcase the student life, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus located 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 grassy areas. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application for mapping and sharing biodiversity observations worldwide among a network of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. An additional search on eBird reveals that 111 bird species have been documented on campus 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 representing two of the more recognized efforts carried out on-site.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus predominantly hosts postgraduate students engaged in projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us take part in several clubs based at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the care of the chickens kept behind our residence halls
- Book Club – convening regularly to discuss books of interest on their reading lists
- Gardening Club – overseeing the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – organizing nature walks and conservation-focused activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, numerous members among us are also involved with and actively partake in club activities based in South Kensington!
In addition to formal clubs, we have informal groups that engage in sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), held either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or in indoor sports facilities located in nearby towns such as Bracknell or Ascot.
Aside from club activities and academic sessions, we have various community-driven events on campus. Silwood Park boasts its own student council that organizes and facilitates such events to promote a lively and exciting student experience! Recently, we held the Silwood language exchange, which brought our largely international community together to share languages and cultural experiences over several weeks. Additionally, we celebrated our annual Chinese New Year festivity at the start of the year, where everyone united to prepare dumplings and couplets to usher in the new lunar year. We’ve also organized community parties in celebration of global events (such as Carnival) or simply to indulge in the joy of celebrations.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, hosted by our student community. It’s a Silwood tradition that the quiz losers are responsible for organizing the next one, and I can proudly acknowledge that I’ve set the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Despite my repeated losses in pub quizzes due to my lackluster general knowledge, there’s always a great time to be had in the company of friends over a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Although it’s a 30-minute stroll from the lively atmosphere of civilization (for example, the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or devoid of excitement. In addition to the multitude of events and activities, we are part of a warm and inviting community comprising students from across the globe. Our shared love for nature, the stunning campus landscape, and, importantly, each other’s company, fosters a close-knit community.