He later explained: "My history teachers at Otago were spectacular and made me want to do what they did," citing, in particular, Michael Cullen and Dorothy Page.
[1][2] Burnard completed his doctoral research at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, United States, under the supervision of Jack P. Greene, graduating in 1986 with an MA and in 1989 with a PhD.
[1][2] While finishing his PhD at Johns Hopkins, in 1987 Burnard was appointed as a lecturer in history at the University of the West Indies, Mona in Jamaica.
[4] At Canterbury, Burnard taught courses on American history and developed a special subject on slavery, focused on the papers of Thomas Thistlewood.
[2] Burnard was professor of history at the University of Hull, where he was the Director of the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation .