Professor Millar’s specialist research interest is contemporary textile practice, particularly in the UK and Japan. After a career as a successful studio practitioner (weave) she has spent the last 20 years building up professional and personal networks resulting in collaborative and mentoring exchanges between textile practitioners and institutions in both countries. This research has been located in three specific areas: textile installations within the built environment (the texturing of space); the transition from traditional practice and its influence on contemporary practice; the use of textiles as an expression of cultural particularity. The second and third of these strands have led to her extending the geographical areas of her research to include Baltic countries Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and Scandinavian countries Norway and Finland. Her research outcomes have been in the form of curated exhibitions with accompanying substantial publications. These have included the international touring exhibitions Revelation (1996-8), Textural Space (2001), Through the Surface (2004-5), 21:21- NUNO textiles (2005-7), Cloth & Culture Now (2008), Cultex (2009-11). Since 2006 she has also been exploring two supporting strands of research: that of developing the profile of contemporary textiles through collaborative research between Museums, HEI’s and Practitioners (Context and Collaboration); and the importance of Haptic knowledge as a means of understanding and communication (Haptic- awakening the senses [RIBA 2008]; and papers Memory and Touch [RSA 2007], and Let Your Fingers Do The Reading [RCA 2010]).

In 2005 she was appointed Director of the Anglo Japanese Textile Research Centre at UCA, in 2007 was appointed Professor of Textile Culture and currently has 4 MPhil/PhD students and is lead tutor for the MA in textiles. In 2008 she received the Japan Society Award for significant contribution to Anglo-Japanese relationships and in 2011 was awarded an MBE for her contribution to Higher Education.

2011 - awarded Great Britain Saskawa Foundation grant and Daiwa Anglo Japanese Foundation grant for Bite-Size exhibition.
2010-11 - received Crafts Council 50:50 grant (with Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery) and Arts Council England Grant for Lost in Lace exhibition.
2010 - awarded a Crafts Council England research grand in for the Net-works project.
2009 - 2010 - received a grant from the Arts Council of Norway in for research and development of project Cultex.
2008 - awarded a grant from the SCVA (Gatsby Charitable Foundation) towards research, development and delivery of Cloth and Culture now.
2008 - awarded funding from the Norwegian Institute for Free Speech for publication costs for the book 'Desconocida:Unknown'.
2006 - awarded a grant by the AHRC in 2006 for a seminar series.
2006 - received funding from the Head Trust and Arts Council England towards the development, research and delivery of the exhibition '21:21'.