Dr. Ikbal is a young academic who completed her Bachelor's Degree with honors in English from EFLU, Hyderabad. She was selected for the Oxford Summer Course in English Literature during 2016, where she underwent training in critical analysis and academic writing. Following this, she specialized in Comparative Literature with a Master's from the University of Hyderabad, graduating in 2018. Ms. Ikbal did her doctoral research at the Department of Cultural Studies, EFLU, focusing on the cultural public sphere of Kerala in the twentieth century. She was awarded her PhD in November, 2024.

Her areas of interests include Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, Translation Studies, and Kerala Modernity. She is generally fascinated by the way cultures interact and produce unique microhistories across space and time.