SIR KEN ROBINSON, PHD is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources. He works with governments, education systems, international agencies, global corporations and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations to unlock the creative energy of people and organizations. He has led national and international projects on creative and cultural education in the UK, Europe, Asia and the United States. The embodiment of the prestigious TED Conference and its commitment to spreading new ideas, his 2006 talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” has been viewed online over 46 million times and seen by an estimated 400 million people in 160 countries.

For 12 years he was professor of arts education at the University of Warwick in the UK and is now professor emeritus. He led a national commission on creativity, education and the economy for the UK Government. All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education (The Robinson Report) was published to wide acclaim. He was the central figure in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, working with the ministers for training, education enterprise and culture. He was one of four international advisors to the Singapore Government for its strategy to become the creative hub of Southeast Asia, and the guiding force in Oklahoma’s statewide strategy to cultivate creativity and innovation in culture, commerce and education.

He was named as one of Time/Fortune/CNN’s “Principal Voices”. He was acclaimed by Fast Company magazine as one of “the world’s elite thinkers on creativity and innovation” and was ranked in the Thinkers50 list of the world’s top business thinkers. He has received honorary degrees from ten universities in Europe and the United States. He has been honored with the Athena Award of the Rhode Island School of Design; the Peabody Medal for contributions to the arts and culture in the United States; the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the Royal Society of Arts for outstanding contributions to cultural relations between the United Kingdom and the United States; the Gordon Parks Award for Outstanding Contributions to Creativity and Education; City of New York YMCA, Arts and Letters Award for Outstanding Leadership; the LEGO Prize for Extraordinary Contributions on Behalf of Children and Young People; and the Sir Arthur C. Clarke Foundation Imagination Award. He speaks to audiences throughout the world on the creative challenges facing business and education in the new global economies. In 2003, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts.

Sir Ken was born in Liverpool, UK. He is married to Thérèse (Lady) Robinson. They have two children, James and Kate.

Also by Sir Ken Robinson: The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (Penguin/Viking, 2009) is a New York Times bestseller. It has been translated into 23 languages and has sold over a million copies worldwide. Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life (Viking, 2013) is also a New York Times bestseller. Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education (Viking, 2015) tackles the critical issue of how to transform the world’s troubled educational systems and is now available in 15 languages.