Suzaina Kadir's research interests and area specialisation include religion and politics, with special focus on Muslim politics in Southeast Asia and South Asia; state-society relations and political development in Asia, with special focus on Southeast Asia; and regional security of Southeast Asia with a focus on non-traditional security issues affecting ASEAN such as women's rights and the impact of religion.

She has been published in renowned journals and contributed to several books. In her free time, Suzaina volunteers at community-oriented projects and has served on several civic boards and panels. She is also actively engaged in fostering intra-faith dialogue. Suzaina teaches ethnic politics and governance in Asia and public policy in Southeast Asia. She will be introducing a course on Islamic frameworks of governance in the near future.