Howard Burton is the founder and creator of Ideas Roadshow, an award-winning database offering innovative pedagogical video and print resources featuring more than 100 of the world's leading thinkers. All videos and eBooks are based on extensive and informal conversations with a broad selection of some of the world’s top experts across a wide number of subject areas, discussing their research, motivations, challenges, and excitement. Each conversation typically lasts over two hours and provides the raw material for all content produced. Ideas Roadshow was the recipient of The Educational Learning Resources Award at The London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards 2018: "Ideas Roadshow is an innovative database offering world-class content which conveys genuine, accessible insights into research done at the highest level across the arts and sciences. Through innovative, separate portals access is provided to tailor-made resources for academic libraries, high schools and public libraries." Howard is a strong believer in the value of education and feels a strong resonance with the academic rigour and the emphasis on critical thinking of the Diploma Programme of the International Baccalaureate – a curriculum which he believes is invaluable for preparing students for both future academic excellence and, more generally, engaged global citizenship. In the fall of 2018 a new database was launched at the IB Global Conference in San Diego, called which offers a user-friendly database for teachers and students of more than 500 high-quality video and print resources featuring 80 top experts, including two Nobel Laureates. To engage with IB educators and students, Howard writes a weekly blog called where he shares fresh ideas about the nature of knowledge and top-level research following his extensive interactions with leading researchers. Howard holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics and an M.A. in philosophy and was the founding Executive Director of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada, from 1999-2007. Howard has extensive experience in communicating sophisticated ideas to students and to the general public. To ensure that the community had an opportunity to become actively involved in the science and discovery of the Institute, Howard initiated several educational outreach programs, including a popular monthly public lecture series, an International Summer School, the annual Einstein Plus Teachers Workshop and numerous student and teacher seminars. Howard interacted extensively with organizations and government bodies at local, regional, provincial, national and international levels. Additionally, he promoted science and education through the media – participating with CBC Radio and Television, CTV News, TV Ontario, CNN International, MSNBC and other international broadcasters. He also contributed a regular column to The Kitchener-Waterloo Record for many years and has been published in various other media, including Canadian Architect and The Times of India. Dr Burton is a former board member of the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony and has been involved in a host of other community initiatives. Howard received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Waterloo. His book, First Principles: Building Perimeter Institute, tells the history of the founding years of Perimeter Institute.
