Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When students from Imperial envision Silwood Park, they picture a vibrant, enchanting, and green campus full of distinctive wildlife and plants, setting it apart from other locations like South Kensington or White City. In numerous aspects, they are correct – every depiction of Silwood Park is accurate!
As a spokesperson for this lesser-known segment of the Imperial community, I wish to shed light on the student experience, activities, and camaraderie at our natural parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
An overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s open-air laboratory, covering 77 hectares and encompassing environments such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application for cataloging and sharing biodiversity observations globally among a network of naturalists, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. Additionally, an exploration on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been noted on campus to date.
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 being two of the more prominent studies conducted on-site.
Student life at Silwood Park
The campus primarily houses postgraduate students engaged in projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Most are involved in several clubs located at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – dedicated to caring for the chickens raised near our residence halls
- Book Club – which meets regularly to discuss intriguing literature
- Gardening Club – responsible for tending to the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – which organizes nature walks and conservation-focused activities for students on the Silwood Park campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many also engage in activities offered by clubs based in South Kensington!
Casually, we also have clubs that participate in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (which happens to be my personal favorite!), utilizing either the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or the indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Apart from club-related activities and classes, we host various community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and facilitates these activities to maintain an energized and lively student life! Recently, we held the Silwood language exchange, allowing our predominantly international community to share languages and cultures over several weeks, and we celebrated Chinese New Year at the beginning of the year by making dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also hosted community-organized gatherings celebrating global events (such as Carnival) or celebrations simply inspired by our love for social gatherings.
However, my favorite event on campus has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. It’s a tradition at Silwood that those who lose the quiz set up the next one, and I can proudly state that I’ve set the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Despite frequently losing quizzes due to my limited general knowledge, there’s always joy in good company and a well-poured pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively atmosphere of civilization (for instance, the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or unsatisfactory. Besides the multitude of events and activities, there exists a friendly and inviting community of students from around the globe. We all share a passion for nature, our stunning campus grounds, and, most importantly, each other’s company. We are a tight-knit community that enjoys stargazing in the chilly winter months on the open field adjacent to