Margaret Stevenson Miller was born in 1896. She studied at the University of Edinburgh and at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, where she was the first student to gain a PhD in 1925.

During the years 1928-1934 Dr. Miller was employed as a lecturer in the Department of Commerce at Liverpool University and in the summer of 1932 she married one of her colleagues C Douglas Campbell. In the autumn of the same year, the issue of the employment of married women as academic staff was raised by the Vice-Chancellor of Liverpool University Dr. H J W Hetherington. On his recommendation, supported by the University Senate, the University Council passed a resolution in February 1933 that the appointments of women members of staff should terminate on marriage; any woman wishing to retain her job after marriage would have to re-apply. Dr. Miller was offered a one year contract as an ungraded lecturer in the Department of Commerce (a demotion from her previous post) after which time she would have to re-apply if she wished to remain working at Liverpool.

Dr. Miller did not wish to give up her job, and as she utterly disagreed with the Council's resolution, she decided to fight against it. She gained support from friends, colleagues and feminist groups nationwide, and their campaign seemed to be successful, as in late 1933 the Council of Liverpool University suspended its resolution, withdrawing it completely in March 1934.

However, despite this victory, Dr. Miller's job was still re-advertised in 1934 and on writing to inform her of this decision the Vice-Chancellor made it clear that: "since the vacancy arises because of the decision of Senate not to recommend your re-appointment in the ordinary way, there is a reasonable presumption that (unless the field should prove unexpectedly weak) another candidate will be preferred." Dr. Miller's employment at Liverpool University came to an end.

During WWII Dr. Miller worked as a research strategist in Soviet affairs at the Foreign Office's Foreign Research and Press Service in Oxford and at the Office of Strategic Studies in Washington. She continued to work for the Foreign Office after the war in their Economic Intelligence Department however, she soon left to take a post as an administrative officer at the Central Electricity Authority, where she remained for the rest of her career.

Throughout her employment Dr. Miller continued to write, lecture and broadcast on Soviet economics. She died in 1979.