Pragya Agarwal

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Pragya Agarwal is a behaviour and data scientist and visiting professor of social inequities and injustice at Loughborough University. She is the founder of a research think-tank, The 50 Percent Project, investigating women’s status and rights around the world. 



Agarwal was selected as a 'creative thinker' for innovative and interdisciplinary research by NESTA. She is the author of ‘(M)otherhood: on the Choices of Being a Woman’, a hybrid memoir and scientific analysis of women’s fertility, and an urgent and timely examination of how political ideas of womanhood and motherhood are constructed. She is also the author of ‘SWAY: Unravelling Unconscious Bias’, and ‘Wish We Knew What to Say: Talking with Children About Race’, a manual for parents, carers and educators of all backgrounds and ethnicities about talking to children about race and racism.



Agarwal works as a consultant and speaker with organisations around the world, including universities, corporations, non-profits, and schools, delivering talks and workshops on bias, anti-racism, social inclusion, power and privilege. A passionate campaigner for women’s rights, and two-time TEDx speaker, Pragya organised the first TEDxWoman event in the northern U.K. 



Agarwal’s mini podcast series, ‘Outside the Boxes’, examines how labels and stereotypes affect us as a society and what we can do about it. And, in 2020, she launched another mini-series, ‘Wish We Knew What To Say’, to accompany her book of the same name. In six episodes, she speaks with parents of different ethnic backgrounds about their experiences and raising children with secure identities. 



Pragya moved to the U.K. from India almost 20 years ago to study for a master’s degree at the University of York on a British Council Fellowship, and now lives in the northwest with her family. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.



 

Contributions by Pragya Agarwal

  • Speaker at IAPP Data Protection Intensive: UK 2022