Composed by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they imagine a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus brimming with wildlife and vegetation seldom found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – every representation of Silwood Park holds true!
As a spokesperson for this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I aim to spotlight the student experience, events, and community 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 featuring environments such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and broad grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application that allows users to map and share biodiversity observations with a global network of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. Further inquiries on eBird show that 111 bird species have been identified on campus to date.
Additionally, Silwood Park is the venue for several long-term field research endeavors, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the more prominent studies undertaken here.
Student experience at Silwood Park
The campus predominantly hosts postgraduate students engaged in projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us are involved in various clubs based at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens kept behind our residence halls
- Book Club – meeting regularly to discuss interesting titles on their reading lists
- Gardening Club – overseeing the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – organizing nature walks and conservation-related activities for students at Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, numerous members also partake in clubs based in South Kensington!
Informally, we have clubs that focus on sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), played 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 coursework, there are many community-led events on campus. Silwood Park features its own student council that organizes and manages these activities to promote a lively and engaging student life! Recently, we hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our largely international community gathered to share languages and cultures over several weeks. We also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year event at the beginning of the year, where everyone came together to prepare dumplings and couplets to welcome a new lunar year. We’ve also held community-organized parties honoring celebrations from around the globe (like Carnival) or themed parties simply for the joy of gathering.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, arranged by our student community. It’s customary in Silwood culture that the teams finishing last in the pub quiz are responsible for setting the next one, and I can proudly say I have organized the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Despite my frequent losses due to limited general trivia knowledge, there’s always ample fun to enjoy with great company and a nice pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute stroll from the lively pulse of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed uneventful or deficient. In addition to the myriad of events and activities, we share a friendly and inviting community of students from across the globe. We all appreciate nature, cherish our