Surinderpal Kaur is a Professor and the Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics at the Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. She holds a PhD from Lancaster University, UK. With a career spanning over three decades, she has made significant contributions to the fields of linguistics, critical discourse studies, and multimodality. Her expertise lies in Critical Discourse Studies and Multimodality, with research interests spanning discrimination and prejudice, particularly in migration, Islamophobia, far-right extremism, terrorism, gender, and sexuality. She has been invited to speak by the Director-General of the OIC on Islamophobia at the UN for the International Day Against Islamophobia in 2024. She has also been invited to speak on Islamophobia by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. She has published extensively in reputable journals, contributing to the global understanding of how discourse shapes and reflects social realities.​

Currently, her work centres on climate change communication and education, reflecting her commitment to addressing pressing global challenges. She is also the Co-Chair of the University Malaya Committee for Climate Change which functions as a part of the technology advisory panel for Climate Change for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability. As Co-Chair, she is focused on ensuring that UM obtains observer status at the Conference of Parties for Climate Change, and also for UM to take the lead in climate-related research in the nation. She has represented Malaysia and UM at COP29 (UNFCCC) in Baku on Humanising Sustainability.

She is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics at UM. She is also the Vice-Chair for the Malaysian Language Deans Council, and is leading the taskforce for all public universities on Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL). She is committed to embedding digital humanities in the teaching and learning of languages and is focused on establishing a Digital Humanities Centre at the faculty, which will be the hub for TELL for the nation and ASEAN. 

Beyond academia, she is actively involved in capacity-building initiatives for Punjabi and Sikh youth in Malaysia, fostering leadership and community development. 

Her career reflects a deep commitment to inclusive education, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the application of linguistics to address pressing social and environmental challenges. She continues to shape national and international discourse on the critical role of language in society.