Early Career Researcher 2025
Chloe King (Department of Geography, School of Physical Sciences)
The Vice-Chancellor's Awards
for Research Impact and Engagement
About the researcher
Chloe King is a PhD student in the Department of Geography whose research focuses on intersection between tourism, conservation, and development, particularly in coastal destinations and marine ecosystems. Chloe's Ph.D. research in the Galápagos Islands explores regenerative theory and its application to tourism through a political ecology lens, aiming to understand how conservation and development goals are negotiated, contested, and reconciled through tourism.
Her goal is to contribute to regenerative tourism theory by drawing on diverse concepts such as convivial conservation, post-developmentalism, degrowth, and diverse economies, and provide recommendations for a more equitable and effective reconciliation of conservation and development in the Galápagos, benefiting both local communities and natural environments.
The Vice-Chancellor's Awards
for Research Impact and Engagement
About the researcher
Chloe King is a PhD student in the Department of Geography whose research focuses on intersection between tourism, conservation, and development, particularly in coastal destinations and marine ecosystems. Chloe's Ph.D. research in the Galápagos Islands explores regenerative theory and its application to tourism through a political ecology lens, aiming to understand how conservation and development goals are negotiated, contested, and reconciled through tourism.
Her goal is to contribute to regenerative tourism theory by drawing on diverse concepts such as convivial conservation, post-developmentalism, degrowth, and diverse economies, and provide recommendations for a more equitable and effective reconciliation of conservation and development in the Galápagos, benefiting both local communities and natural environments.
This project represents a critical step towards redefining tourism in the Galapagos Islands. By focusing on regenerative practices, the project not only addresses immediate conservation needs but also lays the groundwork for long-term sustainability of tourism.
Arturo Izurieta
Former Director, Galapagos National Park, Ecuador
Chloe (third from right) meetings with authorities in Galapagos.
Chloe (third from right) meetings with authorities in Galapagos.
What is the research?
Charting a Regenerative Pathway for Tourism in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
The Galápagos Islands face a profound paradox: tourism sustains the local economy while simultaneously threatening the ecosystems on which it depends. Chloe's research addresses this challenge by examining how economic systems can operate within ecological limits and by co-creating pathways for regenerative tourism governance.
Over the past three years, she has worked directly with the Galápagos National Park Directorate, Ministry of Tourism, Governing Council, NGOs, and communities to bridge science and policy. As both researcher and facilitator, Chloe co-organised the 2023 Regenerative Tourism Workshop, secured over £150,000 in multi-institutional funding, and helped establish the intergovernmental Regenerative Tourism Working Group.
The action-research approach enabled policy alignment unprecedented in the archipelago through contributions to Ecuador’s 2024 UNESCO State of Conservation Report and the first comprehensive tourism strategy incorporating regenerative principles into tourism management.
The collaborative working group supported and secured funding for concrete policy changes, including a co-created Code of Coexistence for residents and visitors, a visitor Platform of Information, and community-led pilot projects applying Doughnut Economics principles.
This work demonstrates how academic research can catalyse institutional cooperation and measurable governance reform, transforming a global conservation paradox into an opportunity to design an economy in service of both people and nature.
Through partnership with GCT, Chloe has elevated the integration of regenerative
principles as a policy and research priority for the Galápagos, embedding systems
thinking within ongoing governance reform.
Sarah Hutchison
Head of Programmes, Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT)
