Chloe King, PhD student in the Department of Geography, is the recipient of a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Impact and Engagement.
Her research focuses on the intersection between tourism, conservation, and development, particularly in coastal destinations and marine ecosystems.
Chloe said:
“This research has been supported from the beginning by a network of organisations and individuals committed to seeing tourism become a positive force in one of the world’s most iconic protected areas.
It is an honour to have this collaborative effort recognised by the University, showing that impactful research must be something done with the places and communities it seeks to serve.”
Chloe has been based in the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador) for the past three years and works with the Galápagos National Park Directorate (GNPD), the Ministry of Tourism, Governing Council, NGOs, and local communities to understand and improve the management of tourism which both sustains the local economy while at the same time threatening the ecosystem on which that economy depends.
A 2023 workshop, convened by the GNPD and funded in part by Christ’s College Darwin Fund, brought together over sixty tourism stakeholders across three days to design transformational solutions for tourism to be a more positive force for people and nature.
Co-organised by Chloe, the workshop catalysed an informal policy advisory group of authorities, academic and non-governmental organisations that sought to implement these solutions over the past two years.
Through continued involvement with this policy working group, her research supported significant contributions to tourism management and policy, including Ecuador’s 2024 UNESCO State of Conservation Report and the first comprehensive tourism strategy incorporating regenerative principles into tourism management.
In March 2025, Chloe and Christ’s College alumna Lucía Norris secured additional funding from the Sansom Conservation Leadership Alumni Fund and the Galapagos Conservation Trust to support the Galapagos government implement the tourism strategy and concrete policy recommendations that arose from the 2023 workshop.
At the end of last year, Chloe and Lucía -along with local partners -supported the GNPD to create a Code of Conduct or ‘Commitment to Coexistence’ that will be the islands’ shared ethical framework.
This framework connects conservation outcomes with social wellbeing and community stewardship. The participatory process involved 1,000 community members through over ten workshops and hundreds of surveys across the inhabited islands.
The Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Research Impact and Engagement recognise outstanding achievement, innovation and creativity in devising and implementing ambitious engagement and impact plans which have the potential to create significant economic, social and cultural impact from, and engagement with, research.
Charting a Regenerative Pathway for Tourism in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
Photo credits: Galapagos National Park Directorate