It constructed an online prosopographical database of exiled clerics from a wide variety of source material including contemporary epigraphy, histories, hagiography, and letters.

[16][17][18] In 2018, Hillner started a new project funded by the Leverhulme Trust on Women, Conflict and Peace: Gendered Networks in Early Medieval Narratives (c.

Hillner's work again used digital methods of network analysis to focus on the social roles of women rather than studying individuals, using material from a wide variety of late antique and early medieval sources.

[22] Hillner was a Director of the Medieval and Ancient Research Centre at the University of Sheffield (MARCUS)[23] and member of the Faculty of Archaeology, History and Letters of the British School at Rome (2017–2021).

[25] In October 2021, she took up her current position at the University of Bonn, appointed with other female scholars Claudia Jarzebowski and Pia Wiegmink, as well as Christoph Witzenrath.