Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When most students from Imperial envision Silwood Park, they picture a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus brimming with wildlife and flora that are rarely found at our other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – and each image of Silwood Park is indeed accurate!
As a member of this lesser-known community within Imperial, I’d like to showcase the student experience, activities, and community present at our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
A glimpse into Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor experimentation site, covering 77 hectares and featuring ecosystems such as freshwater streams, lakes, a “vintage” forest, and open fields. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application for mapping and sharing global biodiversity observations with a network of naturalists, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, while a search on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been noted on campus to date.
Notably, Silwood Park is also home to several extensive field research initiatives, including the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project, which are among the more recognized studies conducted on-site.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily caters to postgraduate students engaged in projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us actively participate in various clubs located at Silwood Park. Some prominent examples are:
- Chicken Club – which tends to the chickens raised behind our residences
- Book Club – which meets regularly to discuss selected readings of interest
- Gardening Club – responsible for managing the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – which arranges nature walks and conservation-related activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also join and engage in activities offered by clubs based in South Kensington!
In a more casual setting, we have clubs that focus on sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which take place either on the multi-use games area (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities located in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club activities and classes, numerous community-led events occur on campus. Silwood Park features its own student council that organizes and supports such initiatives, ensuring we enjoy a lively and dynamic student life! Recently, we held the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community came together to share languages and cultures over several weeks, as well as our annual Chinese New Year celebration at the start of the year, bringing everyone together to prepare dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also hosted community-organized parties celebrating events from around the globe (such as Carnival), or simply gatherings for the joy of socializing.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, hosted by our student community. It is a Silwood tradition that the losers of the pub quiz must organize the next one, and I can proudly say I’ve set the most pub quizzes this year. Despite my constant failures at many pub quizzes due to my inadequate general knowledge, there’s always great fun to be had with good friends and a refreshing pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it is situated a 30-minute stroll from the lively atmosphere of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or