Pragya Agarwal

Professor Pragya Agarwal is a distinguished behavioural and data scientist, currently serving as the Visiting Professor of Social Inequities and Injustice at Loughborough University in the UK and a Visiting Fellow at University of Oxford. Renowned for ground-breaking books like SWAY: Unravelling Unconscious Bias (which was Guardian Book of the Week), (M)otherhood: On the Choices of Being a Woman and Wish We Knew What To Say: Talking with Children about Race, she challenges societal norms and is a sought-after consultant addressing bias, anti-racism, and social inclusion. Her most recent book is Hysterical: Exploding the myth of gendered emotions which has been nominated as one of the best smart thinking non-fiction science books in 2022.

She has been recognised for her impactful advocacy and writing, and in 2023-24 awarded the Fulbright Fellowship to University of California, a British Library Fellowship, a Churchill Fellowship and a Transmission Prize for ‘making complex scientific ideas accessible’. In 2024-25, she has been awarded a Sassoon Fellowship in South Asian and Black History at University of Oxford, a Royal Literary Fund Fellowship at Newnham College, University of Cambridge and a Royal Society of Literature award. She contributes thought-provoking pieces to major publications, including The Guardian, Prospect, Forbes, Scientific American, Wired and New Scientist, and has established herself as a significant voice in contemporary discussions on women's rights.

Pragya Agarwal has worked as a consultant and speaker across the world for the United Nations, UNESCO, Environment Agency, Royal Society, National Health Service, UK Police Commissioners and International Trade Commission, Springer Publishing, British Academy, and various international universities as Oxford, Cambridge, Columbia, Melbourne, Imperial College and so on. She has delivered keynotes around the world, most recently at the Museum of Science in Boston, and at The King Center for Non-violent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a two-time TEDx speaker, a TEDx Woman organiser, and has made expert appearances on many shows such as NPR Short Wave, ABC Q&A, BBC Women’s Hour, BBC Radio 4 The Spark amongst many others. She has been invited to speak at many international literary festivals including the Hay Festival, Cheltenham Book Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Northern Ireland Science Festival, Bradford Literary Festival and Emirates Literature Festival. In 2023, she was invited to headline the M/OTHER festival at The Wheeler Centre (Melbourne) and speak at the All About Women festival at the Sydney Opera House.