Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students envision Silwood Park, they picture a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus bustling with wildlife and plants not frequently observed at other campuses like South Kensington or White City. In many ways, they’re correct – every depiction of Silwood Park is true!
As a voice for this lesser-known enclave at Imperial, I would like to shed light on the student experience, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
A glimpse into Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and showcasing ecosystems such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and open grasslands. A straightforward search on iNaturalist, an application for mapping and sharing biodiversity findings globally with an online community of naturalists, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been logged on campus, and an additional search on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been documented to date.
Notably, Silwood Park also hosts many prolonged field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the more prominent studies conducted there.
Student community at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students interested in projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us belong to a variety of clubs based at Silwood Park. Significant examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens situated behind our residence halls
- Book Club – which meets frequently to discuss interesting selections from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – which maintains the allotments in our communal garden
- Conservation Club – which organizes nature outings and eco-focused activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also take part in activities organized by clubs in South Kensington!
Unofficially, we also have groups that engage in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which take place either at the multi-use games area (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities located in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Beyond club activities and classes, we hold numerous community-driven events on campus. Silwood Park possesses its own student council that coordinates and promotes these activities, ensuring a lively and dynamic student life! Recently, we’ve hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community gathered to share languages and cultures over several weeks, along with our annual Chinese New Year festivities at the start of the year, where everyone united to create dumplings and couplets to celebrate the new lunar year. We’ve also organized community gatherings celebrating global events (like Carnival) or parties arranged simply for the joy of celebration.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, coordinated by our student community. It’s a tradition at Silwood that the losers of the pub quiz must organize the next one, and I can proudly assert that I hold the record for the most pub quizzes set this year. Even though I’ve lost many pub quizzes due to my lack of general trivia knowledge, there’s always plenty of fun to experience 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 atmosphere of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never felt dull or lacking. Along with the myriad events and activities, we enjoy a friendly and inviting community made up of students from around the globe. All of us cherish nature, appreciate our