Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet focusing on Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When many Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enchanting, and green campus vibrant with wildlife and vegetation rarely spotted at our other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – every depiction of Silwood Park holds true!
As a voice for this lesser-known sector of Imperial, I wish to emphasize the student experience, activities, and community present at our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
A glimpse of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research center, covering 77 hectares and incorporating habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” woodland, and open fields. A quick look on iNaturalist, an app designed for mapping and sharing biodiversity insights worldwide within a global network of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, while a further check on eBird shows that 111 bird species have been documented to date.
Moreover, Silwood Park hosts numerous extended field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the more recognized studies conducted here.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students keen on ecology, conservation, and evolutionary studies. Most of us belong to various clubs based at Silwood Park. Notable examples are:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – who meet regularly to discuss interesting reads
- Gardening Club – managing the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – who arrange nature walks and conservation-related activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As a part of the larger Imperial student body, a number of us also engage in activities of clubs located in South Kensington!
Casually, we have groups participating in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my favorite!), hosted either at the multi-use games area (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
In addition to club activities and classes, many community-driven events occur on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and facilitates events to promote a lively and engaging student life! In recent months, we’ve hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community shared their languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also marked Chinese New Year with dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. Furthermore, we’ve had community-organized celebrations for global events (like Carnival) or simply for our love of festivities.
My favorite campus activity is the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student body. It’s a Silwood tradition that the quiz losers are responsible for setting up the next one, and I can proudly say I hold the record for the most pub quizzes set this year. Despite my repeated quiz losses due to not-so-great general trivia knowledge, there’s always great enjoyment with wonderful company and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my home away from my actual home
Although it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively aspects of civilization (such as the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never felt boring or deficient. Along with a plethora of events and activities, we enjoy a warm and inviting community of students from various corners of the globe. We share a fondness for nature, our stunning campus grounds, and, crucially, each other’s companionship. We are a tight-knit community that takes pleasure in stargazing in the winter chill on the open fields next to our bar, observing the birds and mammals that visit our room windows, and spending