Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When many students from Imperial think about Silwood Park, they picture a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus bustling with wildlife and plants that are seldom found at other locations such as South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – every depiction of Silwood Park rings true!
As a voice for this lesser-known community at Imperial, I’d like to shed light on the student experience, activities, and environment at our natural parkland campus situated in Ascot, Berkshire.
A glimpse into Silwood Park
Silwood Park is Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and featuring ecosystems such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and open fields. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application where you can map and share biodiversity observations globally within a naturalist social network, shows that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, and an additional search on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been noted so far.
More intriguingly, Silwood Park also serves as the venue for a multitude of long-term field research projects, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the more prominent studies conducted on-site.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students focused on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us engage in several clubs based at Silwood Park. Some notable examples include:
- Chicken Club – who look after the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – who meet regularly to discuss captivating reads
- Gardening Club – who oversee the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – who coordinate nature walks and conservation-focused activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also take part in activities from clubs located in South Kensington!
Casually, we have clubs that engage in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which are held either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club activities and classes, we have a host of community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its dedicated student council that organizes and facilitates these activities to foster a vibrant and dynamic student life! Recently, we’ve hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community came together to share languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year event at the year’s start, where participants united to make dumplings and couplets to usher in the new lunar year. Additionally, we’ve enjoyed community-organized parties celebrating various global events (like Carnival), or gatherings simply for the joy of celebration.
However, my favorite event on campus has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. It’s a part of Silwood culture that the quiz losers must prepare the next one, and I can proudly state that I hold the record for the most quizzes set this year. Even though I’ve lost many quizzes due to my limited trivia knowledge, there’s always great fun with wonderful company and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute stroll from the lively essence of civilization (such as the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never been dull or uninteresting. Beyond the myriad events and activities, we have a friendly and inclusive community made up of students from across the globe. We all share a passion for nature, cherish our gorgeous campus grounds, and more importantly,