Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they conjure images of a verdant, enigmatic campus abundant with wildlife and vegetation rarely spotted on other campuses like South Kensington or White City. In numerous respects, they are correct – every depiction of Silwood Park is accurate!
As a spokesperson for this lesser-known enclave at Imperial, I wish to shed light on the student experience, opportunities, and community present at our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
An overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and featuring ecosystems like freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A basic search on iNaturalist, an application that allows users to map and share biodiversity observations with a global network of naturalists, indicates that a total of 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, while 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 research projects, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the more prominent endeavors conducted on-site.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily hosts postgraduate students focused on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us are spread across several clubs located at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for taking care of the chickens housed behind our residences
- Book Club – convenes regularly to discuss books of interest from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – oversees the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – organizes nature walks and conservation-based activities for students on the Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, numerous members among us also engage in and participate regularly in clubs based in South Kensington!
Casually, we host clubs that partake in sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favourite!), which take place either at the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at the indoor sports halls in nearby towns such as Bracknell or Ascot.
In addition to club activities and classes, various community-driven events occur on campus. Silwood Park boasts its own student council that organizes and facilitates these activities, ensuring we enjoy a dynamic and exciting student life! In recent months, we held the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community came together to share aspects of our languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year festivity at the beginning of the year, where everyone united to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the start of a new lunar year. Additionally, we have hosted community-organized parties to honor celebrations from diverse cultures around the globe (such as Carnival), or parties arranged simply for the joy of revelry.
However, my favourite event on campus surely has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student body. It’s a Silwood tradition that the quiz losers must host the next one, and I can proudly admit to having set the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Despite my repeated losses in many pub quizzes due to my limited grasp of general trivia, there’s always ample enjoyment to be found in great company and a fine pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s situated a 30-minute walk from the lively buzz of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has