Speaker Spotlight: Anindya Kundu – Keynote Speaker on Student Agency and Achievement

02 Sep Speaker Spotlight: Anindya Kundu – Keynote Speaker on Student Agency and Achievement

Anindya Kundu keynote speaker programs answer a question most education conferences avoid: why do some students succeed against long odds, and what does the institution owe the ones who do not? Dr. Kundu is a sociologist, two-time TED speaker, and author whose talks have been viewed more than six million times. Collaborative Agency Group books him for districts, education associations, and higher education audiences. Here is what his programs cover and who books them.

What an Anindya Kundu Keynote Speaker Program Covers

Dr. Kundu’s award-winning book, The Power of Student Agency: Looking Beyond Grit to Close the Opportunity Gap, reframes the equity conversation. The argument is that grit alone is an unfair thing to ask of a student navigating a system that was not built for them, and that agency — a student’s capacity to act, supported by the conditions around them — is the more useful frame for the adults in the building.

His programs include How to Develop Agency and Grit, Culturally Competent Leadership and Conditions for Achievement, and Supporting Students and Staff with Diverse Backgrounds. A second book, The Power of Educational Leadership, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.

Who Books Anindya Kundu

Since 2020 he has presented to K-12 districts, higher education institutions, education technology organizations, and workforce development groups. He earned his PhD at New York University and has taught courses on race, inequality, and urban education, and his work has been featured on NPR Education and MSNBC.

He fits best where the audience has decision authority: superintendents and cabinet, principals, curriculum and PD directors, and education association planners programming a general session. Planners who have booked him report that he holds a mixed room of veteran teachers and central office staff, which is not a given for research-driven content.

What Audiences Take Away

Not inspiration. A frame. Attendees leave able to name the specific conditions in their own building that either enable or block student agency, and with language for the difference between asking a student to persist and building a system worth persisting in.

His research consistently centers student voice as the most underutilized tool available to a district, and the practical version of that is a short list of things a school can change without a new budget line. For a broader view of the roster, see the education speakers page.

Where He Fits on the Agenda

He is strongest as an opening general session at a district PD day or an education association conference, where the frame he sets can shape the breakouts that follow. He is a weaker fit as a closing keynote, because his content asks the audience to do something and a closing slot gives them nowhere to put it.

If your program includes a leadership strand, ask about pairing the general session with the Culturally Competent Leadership program for principals and cabinet. That combination is where districts report the most follow-through.

The Bottom Line

Anindya Kundu is the right keynote speaker when a district or education association wants an equity session that gives leaders something to implement rather than something to feel. His work is grounded in research, tested with real audiences since 2020, and built for the people who control the conditions students learn in. Collaborative Agency Group can check his availability and current fees, and our guide on how to book a speaker covers the rest.