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Dr. Stefanie Shamila Pillai is a Professor at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya (UM). She was Dean of the Faculty and Chair of UM's Social Advancement and Happiness Research Cluster. She was recently appointed as Adjunct Professor by Mahidol University's Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia. She was also the 2013 Ian Gordon Fellow at Victoria University Wellington's School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, and the 2017 Bill Balsamo Asian Scholar.

Stefanie's main research interests include the sound system of the Malaysian variety of English and Melaka Portuguese or Papia Cristang, language use in multilingual contexts (including language education and language policy) as well as language documentation and language revitalisation. Her documentation of Melaka Portuguese is digitally archived at the Endangered Languages Archive (https://www.elararchive.org/dk0123/). She also co-convened an exhibition on indigenous languages in Malaysia in conjunction with the International Year of Indigenous Languages in 2019. She received the Newton-Ungku Omar Advanced Research Fellowship (with Professor Peter K. Austin of SOAS) for the project on Capacity Building for Language Documentation. Her research on Melaka Portuguese led to the development of materials with community representatives to encourage the use of this endangered language.

Apart from her academic and administrative duties, Stefanie was part of the pioneering team that developed the Malaysian Chapter of the Internationals Deans' Course (MyIDC), and is among the DIES National Multiplication Trainings (NMT) alumni pool of trainers. She also recently led a development programme for early career researchers funded by the Association of Commonwealth Universities.