Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet specializing in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus alive with wildlife and plants that are rarely found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – every representation of Silwood Park is accurate!
As a spokesperson for this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I wish to showcase the student experience, initiatives, and community at our natural parkland campus situated in Ascot, Berkshire.
An overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and featuring environments such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A quick look on iNaturalist, an application for mapping and sharing biodiversity observations worldwide within a social network of naturalists, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, and an additional check on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been documented on campus to date.
Even more intriguingly, Silwood Park hosts 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.
Campus life at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students focused on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Most of us are involved in several clubs that operate at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – which tends to the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – which meets frequently to discuss books on their reading list
- Gardening Club – which manages the plots in our community garden
- Conservation Club – which organizes nature walks and conservation activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
Being a part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also join and actively engage in clubs based in South Kensington!
Informally, we have groups that participate in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), utilizing either the multi-use games area (MUGA) on campus or the indoor sports halls located in nearby towns such as Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club activities and classes, numerous community-led events occur on campus. Silwood Park boasts its own student council, which organizes and facilitates these events to ensure we maintain a lively and dynamic student life! In recent months, we hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our largely international community united to share languages and cultures over a few weeks, as well as our annual Chinese New Year celebration at the year’s beginning, where everyone collaborated to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also held community-organized parties to mark celebrations from all over the globe (like Carnival), or parties put together simply for the joy of festivities.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, coordinated by our student community. It’s a Silwood tradition that the quiz losers must host the next event, and I can proudly claim the record for the most pub quizzes organized this year. Even while I’ve lost many pub quizzes due to my limited general knowledge, there’s always enjoyment to be had with great friends and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s situated a 30-minute walk from the lively atmosphere of civilization (like the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never felt dull or unfulfilling. Beyond the many events and activities, we have a friendly and inviting