Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When many students from Imperial picture Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enchanting, and green campus brimming with wildlife and plants not typically found at other locations such as South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they’re correct – every depiction of Silwood Park holds true!
As a voice for this lesser-known enclave at Imperial, I would like to shine a light on the student experience, activities, and community at our nature-rich parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
Introducing Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and encompassing habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” woodland, and expansive grasslands. A quick look on iNaturalist, an app designed for mapping and sharing biodiversity sightings globally within an online social network of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, with an additional search on eBird showing that 111 bird species have been identified to date.
Of particular interest, Silwood Park is also the location for several long-term field research initiatives, including the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project, which are among the more renowned studies carried out on-site.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students engaged in projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Most of us join multiple clubs based at Silwood Park. Prominent examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens raised behind our dormitories
- Book Club – who meet regularly to discuss books of interest from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – who tend to the allotments in our communal garden
- Conservation Club – organizing nature walks and environmentally-focused activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also engage with clubs based in South Kensington!
Informally, we boast clubs that partake in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), utilizing either the multi-use games area (MUGA) on campus or indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Besides club involvement and lessons, we host numerous community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and facilitates such activities, ensuring a lively and dynamic student life! Recently, we hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community gathered to share languages and cultures over a few weeks, and we celebrated our annual Chinese New Year event at the beginning of the year, where everyone united to make dumplings and couplets to ring in the new lunar year. Community-organized parties also occur to celebrate global events (like Carnival) or simply for the joy of gathering.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, coordinated by our student body. It’s part of Silwood culture that the participants who lose the quiz organize the next one, and I can proudly boast the highest number of pub quizzes arranged this year. Despite frequently losing pub quizzes due to my limited general trivia knowledge, there’s always abundant fun to be had with great company and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Although it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively atmosphere of civilization (e.g., the train station and nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never come across as dull or insufficient. Alongside the array of events and activities, we foster a warm and inviting community made up of students from across the globe. Our shared passion for nature and our stunning campus grounds, and,