Katharine Millar is an Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics.
Her broad research interests lie in examining the gendered cultural narratives underlying political violence and the modern collective use of force. Her on-going research examines gender, race, sexuality and the transnational politics of death; gender and cybersecurity; and liberal notions of political belonging. Dr Millar is also researching the relationship between grief, mass death, and social order in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Millar has also published on female combatants, gendered representations of violent death, military and civilian masculinity, far-right populism and conspiracy theory, the politics of hypocrisy, and critical conceptions of militarism.
Dr Millar's book, Support the Troops: Military Obligation, Gender, and the Making of Political Community, was published in 2022 by Oxford University Press. The book examines the relationship between support the troops discourses and gendered, normative citizenship in the US and UK during the early years of the so-called Global War on Terror. It outlines a theory connecting gendered notions of political obligation with the transformation of civil-military relations, and the normative use of violence, in contemporary liberal democracies. It has been awarded the following prizes: the Canadian Political Science Association 2023 Prize for best book in International Relations; 2023 Honourable Mention for the British International Studies Association's LMH Ling Prize for Best First Book; International Studies Association International Political Sociology (IPS) section Best Book Award for 2024.
Read a symposium on Dr Millar's recent book
Dr Millar is an editor at the journal Security Dialogue and the Cambridge University Press-London School of Economics International Studies Book Series. She is also an associated researcher with the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics. Dr Millar is also a research co-lead for the Canadian Research Network on Women, Peace, and Security. She has participated in consultation processes regarding the UN's Women, Peace, and Security Agenda for various governments, armed forces, and international organisations.
Dr Millar is also a member of the Freedom Online Coalition's Advisory Network, working on Internet freedom and human rights. She does policywork with various international organisations and international non-governmental organisations on gendered elements of cybersecurity and cybersecurity governance.
Dr Millar has frequently been recognised for Inspiring Teaching and Doctoral Mentorship in the LSE Students' Union student-nominated teaching awards.
Read an interview with Dr Millar from the LSE Leading Women series
Previously, Dr Millar was at the University of Oxford, where she held a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada doctoral fellowship at Somerville College, and lectured in Politics at St. Anne's College. Before entering the academy, Dr Millar worked as a policy researcher for a major Canadian political party. She holds a Masters of International Studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.