The esteemed academic joked: 'The needy children thank you, haters!'

She has begun donating $1 to charity each time she receives a mean tweet

The wife of The Project host Waleed Aly often receives hateful messages

One half of 'Australia’s Muslim power couple’ has found an ingenious way to turn the hate she receives from social media trolls into a way to help others.

Susan Carland - a respected Muslim sociologist and wife of The Project host Waleed Aly - knows all-too-well how awful people can be on social media, targeting her because she wears a hijab and speaks out about the rights of Muslims in Australia.

The former Australian Muslim of the Year has been called a ‘terrorist sympathiser’ and an ‘ignorant, maggot-brained, raghead defending idiot’ – but is now turning each slander into a positive, by donating $1 to charity for every hateful tweet she receives.

‘I donate $1 to @UNICEF for each hate-filled tweet I get from trolls. Nearly at $1000 in donation. The needy children thank you, haters!’ Ms Carland tweeted.

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Susan Carland (left) - is a respected Muslim sociologist and wife of The Project host Waleed Aly (right)

She has been targeted by trolls on social media because she wears a hijab and speaks out about the rights of Muslims in Australia. Ms Carland is frequently called upon to weigh into discussions about faith

Ms Carland has found a way to turn a negative into a positive by donating to charity every time she is 'trolled'

Despite her public statement, Ms Carland will be donating more money to children in need as the mean messages from narrow-minded Twitter trolls continue to roll in.

The mother-of-two was sent offensive messages as she stood by her husband’s side when Mr Aly was awarded ‘Media Personality of the Year’ at the GQ Australia Man of the Year awards on Tuesday.

‘Terrorist sympathiser and Muslim apologist,’ spat one social media user, while the other declared the journalist’s award ‘tokenism’.

Ms Carland is often targeted by anti-Muslim activists as she grew up in a Christian household and chose to convert to Islam as a 19-year-old.

In 2004 Ms Carland was named Australian Muslim of the Year and has been listed as one of the international ‘Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow’ by the UN Alliance of Civilisations

This year she completed her PhD at Melbourne's Monash University, titled ‘Fighting Hislam: an investigation into Australian and North American Muslim women fighting sexism within their own communities from a pro-faith perspective'

Ms Carland is the subject of vile tweets, particularly by those who mock her decision to convert from Christianity to Islam almost 20 years ago

Ms Carland has been inundated with messages of support as she is contronted by vile messages on Twitter

Ms Carland refuses to give in when she is the recipient of rude messages, but instead continues to study and educate people about Islam in Australia, in her roles as both a lecturer and recent PhD graduate at Melbourne's Monash University.

‘Who is this maggot-brained @SusanCarland ragheads defending idiot?’ tweeted one man.

‘@SusanCarland is stupid enough to convert to a religion that considers her half a man,’ read a tweet.

‘There is something magical in Islam which brainwash (sic) a normal human into a retard. Susan is just another idiot convert.’

However, now Ms Carland has ensured every vile tweet will make a change for children in need and is being praised for her thoughtful gesture.

‘I’m disgusted you get so much hate but well done on turning it into a great positive #smartwoman,’ tweeted @Annie301 in response to Ms Carland’s charity initiaitive.

‘MashAllah! Such a nice way of wishing them peace!’ tweeted Kilean McColl.

On Wednesday night Ms Carland was by her husband's side when he won Media Personality of the Year

At 17, the Melbourne-born academic began to ponder her own spirituality and explore other religions to see ‘what made sense to me’.

In a 2010 interview she admitted that Islam was at the bottom of her list due to her assumptions it was ‘sexist, outdated and barbaric.’

However, to her surprise Mr Carland found Isam made a lot to sense to her when she looked at the ‘beautiful, peaceful, logical’ side of the religion, which she found when she stripped away ‘the politics, propaganda and sensationalism.’

In 2004 she was named Australian Muslim of the Year and has been listed as one of the international ‘Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow’ by the UN Alliance of Civilisations.

This year she completed her PhD at Melbourne's Monash University, titled ‘Fighting Hislam: an investigation into Australian and North American Muslim women fighting sexism within their own communities from a pro-faith perspective.’

Last year she was by her husband's side when he won a Walkley Award. The couple have become affectionately known as 'Australia's Muslim power couple' or the 'Muslim Brangelina' by friends