About Shoal

Shoal is resource consent intelligence built for real world planning in Aotearoa New Zealand, not generic AI. We combine regulatory assessment experience, spatial analysis, and research backed data systems to complement how your team already works, helping councils, consultants, iwi & hapū, and applicants reach clearer, more defensible decisions.

Our team

Dr Richard Bulmer

Principal / Co founder

Richard is a research scientist with over 15 years' experience across environmental systems, spanning ecosystem dynamics, cumulative effects, and the use of data and models to support environmental management and policy. He has led multi institutional and MBIE funded programmes, working closely with iwi, hapū, local government, and regulatory bodies across Aotearoa, and has provided expert ecological evidence in consent hearings. Richard founded and leads Tidal Research, bringing the scientific foundation and applied regulatory experience at the heart of Shoal.

Aaron Clarkson

Principal / Co founder

Aaron is a project management and advisory professional with extensive experience delivering complex infrastructure and environmental programmes in New Zealand and internationally. He has a strong track record working across energy, infrastructure, and environmental sectors, leading multi partner teams, managing risk, and ensuring technical work lands with the people who need to act on it. Aaron founded and leads Toba Projects, and brings that same delivery discipline and strategic clarity to his work at Shoal.

Daniel Harrison

Partnerships & Engagement

Daniel (Taranaki, Te Pakakohe, Ngāti Ruanui, Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika) supports partnerships and engagement at Shoal. An initiator of strategic relationships, experienced governor, and skilled project manager comfortable in both te ao Māori and te ao Pākehā, he has worked across business, iwi Māori, and Crown–Māori contexts with pre- and post-settlement governance entities, local and central government. He serves on the boards of Te Kāhui o Taranaki Trust and the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust. His background includes more than five years with the Department of Conservation on treaty partnerships and Jobs for Nature, major civic programmes in Auckland, and advisory work on Māori data sovereignty with organisations including Datacom and Aatea Solutions.

Albert Bannister

Data / AI Engineer

Albert is a data and AI engineer with a background in building systems that make large, messy document collections analytically tractable. He has developed data pipelines for extracting and structuring information from environmental and regulatory documents, and has deep experience in reproducible, auditable workflow design.

Dr Zhanchao Shao

Spatial Data Analyst

Zhanchao is a researcher and spatial analyst with expertise in remote sensing, hydrodynamic modelling, and machine learning. His work focuses on monitoring environmental health using satellite data, numerical models, and environmental indicators, including the potential impacts of climate change on Aotearoa's environments. At Shoal, Zhanchao brings the spatial dimension to data analysis, connecting environmental insights to the places and catchments where they matter most.

Professor John Reid

Strategic Advisor

Professor John Reid advises Shoal on indigenous environmental intelligence, the governance of AI in consent and environmental decision making, and research commercialisation. At the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, University of Canterbury, he researches how mātauranga Māori, remote sensing, and data systems can support environmental management. He leads the Kaitiaki Intelligence Platform programme, designing culturally grounded approaches to environmental sensing and Māori data sovereignty, with extensive experience connecting research to industry and community partners.

Wayne Alexander

Strategic Advisor

Wayne Alexander advises Shoal on research commercialisation. A Christchurch engineer and entrepreneur, he previously managed the Britten Motorcycle Company, sustaining operations, developing new commercial products. He applied Britten's carbon fibre expertise to medical technology, including custom prosthetic designs that supported Mark Inglis's Everest ascent, and brings deep experience turning research into viable products and ventures.

Partners & funding

Supported by an MBIE New to R&D Grant, Takuhe Pihinga R&D

Based in the University of Auckland Newmarket Innovation Precinct