Jordan B. Peterson is a psychology professor at the University of Toronto, and a clinical psychologist, with two main areas of study: the psychology of belief, including religion, mythology and political ideology; and the assessment and improvement of personality,
including the prediction of creativity and academic and industrial performance.

After completing his undergrad degree at Grande Prairie College and the University of Alberta, Dr. Peterson earned a Ph.D. in psychology at McGill in 1991, and was a post-doc at McGill's Douglas Hospital. In 1993, he joined the psychology faculty at Harvard. He moved to the University of Toronto in 1997. His work has been funded by SSHRC, CIHR and NSERC (major Canadian granting agencies), and the Rotman Business School Center for Integrative Thinking. He was nominated for the Levenson Prize at Harvard in 1998, and by TVO each year from 2005-2008 as one of Ontario's Best University Lecturers. He also serves as an essayist and panelist for TVO's The Agenda, a well-known Canadian current affairs program, and is a popular source of information for other media outlets, including TVO's Big Ideas, which has televised five of his lectures.


In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)