Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they imagine a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus rich with flora and fauna rarely found at other campuses like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they’re correct – every representation of Silwood Park holds true!
As a voice for this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I wish to spotlight the student experience, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
A glimpse into Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor laboratory, spanning 77 hectares and featuring environments such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and open grass fields. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application that allows users to map and share biodiversity observations globally within a naturalist social network, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, and an additional search on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been documented thus far.
Moreover, Silwood Park is the venue for various long-term field research endeavors, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two prominent studies conducted on-site.
Student experiences at Silwood Park
The campus predominantly accommodates postgraduate students focused on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us engage in several clubs based at Silwood Park. Key examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the care of the chickens housed behind our residences
- Book Club – convening regularly to discuss interesting readings on their lists
- Gardening Club – managing the community garden allotments
- Conservation Club – organizing nature walks and conservation-related activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As members of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also take part in activities from clubs based in South Kensington!
Informally, we enjoy clubs engaging in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), held either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities in nearby towns such as Bracknell or Ascot.
Apart from club activities and classes, we organize various community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that coordinates and supports these activities to foster a vibrant and engaging student life! Recently, we hosted 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, with everyone coming together to prepare dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We have also held community-organized celebrations for global events (like Carnival) or simply parties for the sake of festivities.
However, my absolute favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. It’s part of Silwood tradition that the quiz losers must host the next one, and I can proudly say I’ve set the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Even with my numerous defeats due to my inadequate general trivia recall, the fun with great company and a good pint of beer is always worth it.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively pulse of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never felt dull or deprived of excitement. In addition to the myriad of events and activities, we enjoy a friendly and inviting community consisting of students from across the globe. We all cherish nature and adore our stunning campus grounds,