Prof Lilian Miles

Prof Lilian Miles


Lilian is Professor of Sustainability and Social Enterprise in the School of Organisations, Economy and Society. She previously taught at Northumbria University, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Manchester and Middlesex University. She has held visiting lecturer posts at the Universities of Hamburg, Dresden and Leipzig. She also taught Consumer Law for many years at the University of Hong Kong. Lilian is a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Research on Women and Gender, Universiti Sains Malaysia and an external examiner at the University of Essex.


Lilian's interests lie in gender, work and developing countries. Her work focuses on how working conditions for workers (especially women workers) in these countries can be improved. She has investigated the effectiveness of Corporate Codes of Conduct, unions and NGOs in improving working conditions in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. She has led research projects (funded by The British Council- 2015, British Academy- 2016, United Nations Gender Theme Group Malaysia- 2017 and UNWOMEN- 2019) to investigate how the sexual and reproductive health needs of local women and women migrant workers in Malaysia can be met. She was awarded funding from the Newton Fund Impact Scheme (2020) to implement a series of interventions to support these health needs in local factories in Malaysia. More recently, her research has focused on the social inclusion of migrant workers and refugees in host societies. Lilian co-leads the Peripheral Populations and Their Integration Research Group at Westminster Business School.

Grant Capture: 

2023: Ahmad Rashidi Mohamed Tahir, Tim Freeman and Lilian Miles (20,000 MYR) University of Cyberjaya Research Grant Scheme (URGS), "Social Media Driven Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Awareness for Urban Rohingya Adolescents in Malaysia" (December 2023- November 2025)  

2023: Federica Mazzara, Samira Mechri, Lilian Miles, Tim Freeman, Saskia Huc-Hepher, Rim Triki and Nico Pizzolato (£25, 460) British Academy International Writing Workshops Grant (WW22\100216), "Migrants in Transit: A Transdisciplinary Writing Programme for Emerging Scholars of Migration in Tunisia" (March 2023-March 2025)  

2023: Lilian Miles and Tim Freeman (£23, 540) UK Research and Innovation Additional QR and Additional RCIF Grant Allocations 2022-2023 (through the University of Westminster) "Supporting the Reproductive Health Needs of Women Migrant Workers in the service and hospitality industries, women migrant domestic workers and women Rohingya refugees in Malaysia" (January 2023 to May 2023)  

2022: National Centre for Social Research and University of Westminster (Lilian Miles and Serena Masino) (£200,000), EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, “Asylum Seeker Decision-Making in Journeys to the United Kingdom” (March 2022 to October 2022) 

2022: Lilian Miles, Maria Granados and Tim Freeman (£8148) University of Westminster, Strategic Priorities Fund "Improving local government resettlement planning to support the social integration of Syrian refugees in London" (March 2022 to July 2022) 

2020: Lilian Miles and Noraida Endut (£150,000) British Council Newton Fund Impact Scheme, "Piloting Health Interventions to advance the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Women Migrant Workers in Malaysia" Grant Number 536753284 (April 2020-October 2021) 

2020: Lilian Miles and Tim Freeman (£10,000) University of Westminster Research Communities COVID-19 Funding Scheme "The 'Inclusion' Challenge: UK Social integration of low-skilled and low-waged migrant workers during the pandemic", (August 2020-July 2021)  

2019: Lilian Miles and Tim Freeman (US$15,000) UNWOMEN, Strategy Paper: SDG#5 Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and Violence Against Women Migrant Workers Services (VAWMV) in Malaysia (June 2019-August 2019)  

2017: Noraida Endut and Lilian Miles (£25,000) United Nations Gender Theme Group, "A Study on the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Women Migrant Workers in Malaysia: NGOs, Capacity Building and Women's Empowerment" (April 2017-April 2018)  

2016: Noraida Endut and Lilian Miles (£10, 000) British Academy Newton Mobility Grant Scheme, "Improving Institutional responses to maternity protection in Malaysia: Drawing from MP experiences and practices in the UK" Award Reference: NG150226  

2015: Lilian Miles, Bianca Stumbitz and Suzan Lewis (£45, 000) British Council Newton Researcher Links Workshop Grant, "Advancing Maternity Protection in Malaysia: Meeting Social Welfare and Business Needs, and Contributing to Economic Development" Grant WK 204154386  

2014: International Labour Organization (US$10,000). Six months. Part of a team of Middlesex University researchers (led by Suzan Lewis), and co-author of, report on international literature on maternity protection in SMEs and its links to firm productivity and broader societal benefits.

2013: International Labour Organization (US$30,000). Seven months. Part of a team of Middlesex University researchers (led by Richard Croucher) to report on international literature on HR practices and positive firm-level outcomes in Small and medium-Sized Enterprises

2009: Lilian Miles (£1, 175) Society of Legal Scholars Academic Purposes Fund  “Accommodating Religious Diversity in the Corporate Workplace: A Pilot Study”  

2007: Lilian Miles, (£3, 000) The British Academy Small Research Grant “Corporate Governance in Western and Islamic Communities: Prospects for Convergence?” Grant Number SG-46941


Sustainable Development Goals
In brief

Research areas

Gender, Work, Migration, Development

Supervision interests

Development Studies, Gender, Sustainability, Migration