Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet specializing in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enchanting, and green campus filled with wildlife and vegetation rarely found at 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 faction within Imperial, I wish to emphasize 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 research facility, covering 77 hectares and hosting ecosystems such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application for mapping and sharing global biodiversity observations within an online community of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, while a deeper dive into eBird shows that 111 bird species have been documented on campus thus far.
More fascinatingly, Silwood Park is also the location of numerous long-term field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the more notable projects conducted here.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students interested in ecology, conservation, and evolution projects. Many of us are involved in various clubs based at Silwood Park. Some prominent examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – who meet regularly to discuss titles of interest from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – who oversee the allotments within our community garden
- Conservation Club – who arrange nature walks and conservation-related activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also engage in activities of clubs located in South Kensington!
Casually, we also have clubs that partake in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which take place either at the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities situated in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club meetings and classes, we enjoy many community-organized events on campus. Silwood Park boasts its own student council that coordinates and facilitates these activities to ensure we maintain a vibrant and stimulating student life! Recently, we organized the Silwood language exchange, where our diverse international community united to share languages and cultures over several weeks, and we celebrated our annual Chinese New Year at the beginning of the year, where everyone collaborated to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. Community-driven parties celebrating global events (like Carnival) have also taken place, as well as parties simply held out of love for festivities.
My absolute favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. It’s a Silwood tradition that the losers of the pub quiz are tasked with organizing the next one, and I can proudly say that I hold the record for the most pub quizzes set this year. Even though I’ve lost numerous quizzes due to my lack of general trivia knowledge, it’s always a great time with wonderful company and a nice pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Though it is a 30-minute stroll from the lively atmosphere of civilization (such as the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or lacking. In addition to the plethora of events and activities, we have a friendly and inclusive community made up of students from around the globe. All of