Amelia is a PhD candidate with the Department of Pacific Affairs. Prior to her candidacy this year, she undertook post graduate studies with ANU’s Crawford School of Public Policy which entailed her completion of a Master’s thesis on the socio-economic implications of the blue economy concept on coastal tourism in Tonga. Amelia’s current research for her PhD now expands on that topic by delving deeper into what the blue economy entails for policy and practice in coastal and cultural tourism, with a specific focus on ecotourism in Tonga and New Zealand. Amelia was an economist in the Tongan Government for several years and has undertaken two fellowships. The first, entitled the Tonga Fellowship on Environment and Oceans 2018, entailed Amelia’s engagement as an economic advisor to the Permanent Mission of Tonga to the United Nations. Her participation in the fellowship entailed co-authoring an academic article on enabling factors for marine spatial planning in Tonga. The second fellowship, the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship Programme 2019 – 2020, entailed Amelia’s engagement as an ocean finance fellow representing Tonga amongst twelve fellows, selected from across the Pacific region. In 2021, Amelia was the graduate recipient of the Tiri Tiri Prize for Academic Excellence in the ANU’s Masters of Environmental Management and Development Programme under the Crawford School.