Professor 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 Research Centre on Peripheral Populations at Westminster Business School.

Grant Capture: 

2024: Lilian Miles, Maria Granados, Dipanker Sengupta, Teddy Seyoum, Manal Mohammed and Petros Karatsareas, (£160,000) “Developing data driven health intervention models to reduce UK urban refugee health inequality” The Institute of Healthy Urban Living, University of Westminster.

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

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

2023: Lilian Miles and Tim Freeman (£23, 540)  "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" UK Research and Innovation Additional QR and Additional RCIF Grant Allocations 2022-2023 (through the University of Westminster).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2015: Lilian Miles, Bianca Stumbitz and Suzan Lewis (£45, 000) "Advancing Maternity Protection in Malaysia: Meeting Social Welfare and Business Needs, and Contributing to Economic Development" British Council Newton Researcher Links Workshop Grant, 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)  “Accommodating Religious Diversity in the Corporate Workplace: A Pilot Study”  Society of Legal Scholars Academic Purposes Fund.

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

Other Funding:

2018: Angus Nurse, Lilian Miles & Carly Guest, (£76,000) "Investigation of measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible ownership amongst dog owners with dog control issues”, Research commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Contract Ref No. AW1410.

For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.