Dr Miller’s research revolves around three inter-related themes: Social emotional development, academic attainment and programme evaluation. Within this Dr Miller has a particular interest in the development of prosocial behaviour in pre-school and primary school children as well as literacy and numeracy progression more generally. 

She has designed, conducted and published a number of large-scale studies, which have included: simple and cluster randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews, quasi-experimental evaluations and cross-sectional surveys. This research has included looking at effective ways to improve children’s language development by focussing on the relationship between school-based activities and the home learning environment. 

In addition, Dr Miller and colleagues are investigating the impact of early child development programmes on social cohesion and peacebuilding outcomes in six lower- and middle-income countries: Vietnam, Timor-Leste, Egypt, Mali, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. This is an exciting and innovative project that brings together colleagues and researchers from different organisations countries, academic institutions and NGOs. 

The objective of the research activity is to provide evidence of what works to improve outcomes and life chances for young children, wherever they live in the world.