Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enigmatic, and vibrant campus alive with flora and fauna rarely found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – every depiction of Silwood Park is truthful!
As a voice for this lesser-known faction within Imperial, I wish to shed light on the student experience, events, and community at our natural parkland campus situated in Ascot, Berkshire.
Introducing Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s open-air research facility, encompassing 77 hectares and showcasing ecosystems such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” woodland, and expansive meadows. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application for recording and sharing biodiversity observations worldwide via an online platform for naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been documented on campus, with further exploration on eBird confirming that 111 bird species have been logged on the premises to date.
Moreover, Silwood Park hosts many enduring field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the more prominent endeavors carried out there.
Life of Students at Silwood Park
The campus mainly accommodates postgraduate students engaged in projects focused on ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us are involved in various clubs based at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples comprise:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the care of the chickens reared behind our residence halls
- Book Club – convening regularly to discuss titles of interest from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – overseeing the plots in our community garden
- Conservation Club – arranging nature walks and conservation-related activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, a number of us are also active members of clubs based in South Kensington!
Additionally, we informally participate in sports clubs for activities like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which take place either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or in indoor sports facilities located in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club ventures and classes, we host numerous community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and coordinates such events to guarantee a lively and engaging student life! Recently, we’ve held the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community united to share languages and cultures over several weeks, and our annual Chinese New Year celebration at the beginning of the year, where everyone came together to prepare dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also enjoyed community-organized celebrations for global events (like Carnival) and parties created simply for the joy of gathering.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. It’s part of Silwood culture that the quiz losers must host the next one, and I can proudly state that I’ve set the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Despite frequently losing pub quizzes due to my limited general trivia knowledge, there’s always plenty of fun to experience with good friends and a refreshing pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my home away from home
Even though it’s situated a 30-minute walk from the lively environment of civilization (like the train station and nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or insufficient. Besides the multitude of events and activities, we boast a friendly and inviting community made up of students from diverse backgrounds.