Hot on the heels of the news that Zoe Ball is to stand down as the host of the high profile Radio 2 Breakfast Show, another top female BBC presenter, Mishal Husain, is believed to be stepping down from her regular role on Today, Radio 4’s flagship daily morning news programme.

It is thought the presenter will stay on the show until the new year when she is due to take an extended break, a perk offered after serving for more than 25 years with the corporation.

After that point it is believed Husain will move on from Today, where she has worked alongside co-presenters Justin Webb, Nick Robinson and Martha Kearney, who also stepped down this year, for 11 years. The current team includes Simon Jack, Amol Rajan and the former Woman’s Hour host Emma Barnett.

Among names being suggested as likely candidates to take up the prominent job are the BBC Europe editor, Katya Adler, and Anushka Asthana, the former Observer writer and the ITV News deputy political editor.

Husain, 51, started out as a city reporter for the News in Islamabad, Pakistan, and went on to Bloomberg Television. She joined the BBC in 1998 as a junior producer for News 24.

This month Husain said she had been left “shaken” by the more pronounced level of racism she had encountered in recent months, adding that the summer riots had made her question her faith in British tolerance.

“This year I think I have felt racism in a way that I probably haven’t at any point in my career before, and that’s in this country,” she said. “That has been hard, and that’s given me pause.”

The comments were made after she accepted the British Journalism Review’s prestigious Charles Wheeler award. The prize is awarded for an outstanding contribution to broadcast journalism and previous winners have included Jeremy Paxman, Jon Snow and Christiane Amanpour.

The BBC declined to comment on the presenter’s plans. It has been reported this weekend that Husain will look for other on-screen roles within the corporation.