Following the completion of significant restoration and infrastructure improvements, Bader College is entering a new phase and expanding its international offerings to support short-term academic programs, continuing education, international partnerships, and interdisciplinary research.

Located at the beautiful Herstmonceux Castle Estate in East Sussex, the college is welcoming a growing number of faculty-led short-term programs from Queen's and partner institutions. The site combines excellent teaching facilities and conference rooms, accommodation, laboratories, and a beautiful 600-acre estate.

"Bader College provides an exceptional international environment for innovative teaching, learning, and research, " says Matthew Evans, Provost of Queen’s University and Vice-Principal (Academic). "Its historic estate, laboratories, teaching spaces, and surrounding landscape create opportunities across disciplines, from ecology and environmental science to history, architecture, and law. It is a place where students and researchers can engage directly with the environments that shape their learning.”

Queen’s Law at the castle

The first short-term academic program of 2026 saw 80 students from Queen’s Law and other Canadian law schools on site for a three-week intensive international law program before they continued their studies in France.

During their time in East Sussex, law students combined seminars with visits and local experiences that complemented their study of international law.  

“While at Bader College, the international law program students learned the fundamentals of international law in preparation for further studies in Paris,” says Gillian Ready, Director of the International Law Program. “The unique and collegial environment at the castle gave students opportunities for reflection and for valuable conversations with other students, faculty members, and visiting academics and international lawyers.”

Building partnerships across a range of academic programming

The law program marks the start of a busy period for Bader College. Additional short-term academic programs are planned throughout the summer, including the return in July of students and faculty from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Historic Preservation Institute (HPI), who are creating a comprehensive digital record of Herstmonceux Castle. This partnership is funded by a generous grant from Bader Philanthropies.

"We are delighted to be working closely with faculty and staff across Queen's and other partner institutions to bring a range of programs to the estate," says Diana Gilchrist, Director of Academic and Educational Programmes at Bader College. "Over the coming year, we will host a biology bootcamp, welcome students from Singapore for sustainability studies, and offer history programs exploring the Crusades and the Atlantic world. Alongside these, we are developing projects, including a digital heritage app, to help bring together teaching, research, and public engagement.”

Bader College works collaboratively with Queen's faculties and partner universities to support the delivery of short-term courses, field schools, research programs, and professional learning at the castle. Faculty members retain ownership of their academic programs while Bader College provides the facilities, operational support, and distinctive setting that enable those experiences to succeed.

Students in the courtyard at Bader College.

Lifelong learning initiatives

The academic programs are taking place alongside a growing number of continuing education initiatives at the castle that welcome professionals and lifelong learners to campus. These include heritage craft workshops, such as landscape painting classes inspired by Winston Churchill’s paintings of the castle grounds and a needlework session featuring a specially created Bayeux Tapestry-inspired design. Planning is also underway for a range of continuing professional development courses, starting with a Science Technicians Networking Event in late June.  

In addition, heritage conservation courses led by John Zielinski, a heritage restoration expert, address a significant skills and training gap by giving college National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) students practical experience in traditional building and conservation techniques. Funded by Sussex Heritage Trust, the courses strengthen the pipeline of skilled practitioners needed to care for historic buildings and ensure that essential craft knowledge is passed on to the next generation.

More than a castle

That connection between place and learning is shaping the estate's future.

Across the estate, initial steps toward a long-term rewilding project have begun, aligning with Bader College's increasing emphasis on place-based research and education. Ecological baseline surveys are in progress, and additional details will be shared this autumn before the official public launch in October.

This summer, Professor Ian Strachan and two students from the Department of Geography at Queen's will be on site to begin research projects spanning several years. Along with assessing baseline soil carbon and vegetation conditions, they will investigate how carbon is stored and exchanged within the landscape and measure greenhouse gas emissions at the site.

Dr. Strachan’s work highlights how, as the rewilding project develops, students and researchers will be able to investigate ecological change in real time, creating new opportunities for collaboration across environmental science, sustainability, geography, education, and other disciplines.

Visit the Bader College and Herstmonceux Castle Estate websites to learn more about the many opportunities and developments. 

Herstmonceux Castle Estate.