Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When many Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus alive with wildlife and vegetation not typically found at other campuses like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they’re correct – every vision of Silwood Park is spot on!
As a spokesman for this lesser-known sector at Imperial, I’d like to emphasize the student experience, initiatives, and community at our natural parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
An overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and consisting of habitats like freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” woodland, and open meadows. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application for documenting and sharing biodiversity observations worldwide within an online community of naturalists, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. A further inquiry on eBird shows that 111 bird species have been noted on campus thus far.
More intriguingly, Silwood Park is also home to various long-term field research projects, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the more recognized endeavors conducted on-site.
Student life at Silwood Park
The campus primarily hosts postgraduate students engaged in studies related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us participate in various clubs based at Silwood Park. Some notable examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the care of the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – who frequently gather to discuss selected books from their reading list
- Gardening Club – who tend to the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – who arrange nature walks and conservation-focused activities for students at Silwood Park Campus.
Being part of the larger Imperial student body, many of us are also members and actively engage in clubs based in South Kensington too!
Informally, we have clubs that participate in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), based either on 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 coursework, there are numerous community-led events on campus. Silwood Park boasts its own student council that organizes and facilitates these activities to foster a lively and dynamic student life! Recently, we held a Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community came together to share languages and cultures over several weeks. We also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year festivities at the beginning of the year, where everyone gathered to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. Furthermore, we have hosted community-organized parties celebrating global events (such as Carnival) or parties simply for the joy of celebration.
My favorite event on campus, however, has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. It’s part of Silwood culture that the losers of the pub quiz must arrange the next one, and I can proudly claim the highest number of quizzes organized this year. Despite losing countless quizzes due to my poor general knowledge, there’s always immense fun to be had with great company and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my home away from home
Even though it’s 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 felt monotonous or lacking. In addition to the myriad of events and activities, we enjoy a warm and inviting community consisting of students from around the globe. We all share a passion for nature and cherish our beautiful campus.