The British Academy is the UK's expert body that supports and champions excellence in the humanities and social sciences.

Each year the Academy elects to its Fellowship a small number of highly distinguished UK scholars who have achieved academic distinction through research and publication.

Professor Millar’s research interests include social security policy, gender and poverty, family policy and the policy implications of family change. She has been a Special Adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee for Work and Pensions, to the Department for Work and Pensions, and the UK Representative on the EU Observatory on National Family Policies.

As Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at Bath, Professor Millar takes the lead on research strategy, knowledge exchange, and public engagement with research. She is also a member of the GW4 Board, a collaboration which brings together the South West and Wales’ four leading, research-intensive universities.

Lord Stern, President of the British Academy, said: “Our Fellows are elected from across the UK for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. Together they represent an unrivalled reserve of expertise and knowledge. They play a vital role in the work of the Academy, encouraging younger researchers, engaging in public discussion of the great issues and ideas of our and other times, contributing to policy reports and publications, and helping to select researchers and research projects for funding support.”

Professor Millar said of her Fellowship: “I am tremendously proud to be elected as a Fellow of the British Academy. The Academy is pivotal in inspiring and supporting excellence in the humanities and social sciences, and it is a great honour to be chosen to join its Fellowship. I would like to thank my colleagues at Bath and throughout my academic career for inspiration and collaboration over the years. Their expertise and support for my research is reflected in this award.”

Professor Millar was elected to the Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS) in 2000 and is currently a member of the AcSS Council and Executive. She is a member of the Social Work/Social Policy Sub-Panel for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. She is a Trustee of the Langkelly Chase Foundation and a member of the Board of the West of England Academic Health Science Network.

As an undergraduate, Professor Millar studied Social Psychology at the University of Sussex, and then worked in health and social care before completing her MA in Social and Public Administration at Brunel University. She worked as a researcher in the Department of Health and Social Security and then completed her doctorate in social policy at the University of York.

Following her first lectureship at the University of Ulster, Professor Millar joined the University of Bath as a lecturer in social policy in 1988. She was Head of the Department of Social & Policy Sciences (1997–2000) and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences (2003-2005).

The British Academy elected 42 highly distinguished UK academics from 22 universities as Fellows, in recognition of their outstanding research. The new Fellows span the full range of the Academy's subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, from history to psychology, economics to law, literature to philosophy and languages to archaeology.