Aisya A. Zaharin’s research encompasses a diverse range of fields, including political science, history, Middle East issues, decolonisation, and LGBTQI+ and Islam, with a particular emphasis on addressing social inequality and promoting cultural relativism. Her formative years were influenced by her historian mother’s bedtime storytelling, centring around Islamic civilisation and the impact of colonialism on the social-political dynamics of the Global South. Having grown up in a British post-colonised nation, she recognises the dehumanising terminology used to characterise resistance groups as savages and pengganas (terrorists) to maintain colonial authority. She shares Noam Chomsky’s view that intellectuals have a responsibility to expose government concealed motivations and analyse their underlying causes, action and intentions. She accepts that it is the duty of Academia to progress from critique to driving transformative change, harnessing their privileged position to amplify marginalised voices, confront oppressive systems, and advocate for social justice in all its forms.