Duncan's research is focused on applications of high power lasers in manufacturing and in medicine. He is Director of the £3.2M 4-University Medical Device Manufacturing Centre, and PI of 3 current EPSRC grants (total funding £2.5M): (i) Platform Grant on Manufacturing of Medical Devices; (ii) 3D printing of shape memory alloys for medical applications; (iii) Ultra-short pulsed laser welding for bonding IR and visible optical materials.  He is also involved in ERC-funded work on laser-based manufacture of micro-fluidic devices to simulate porous media for application in Carbon Capture and Storage; and is co-Investigator of 4 current EPSRC grants (i) to develop minimally-invasive laser-based surgery for treatment of early stage colon cancer; (ii) 'Mechanically-intelligent'' Intra-operative Tissue Assessment for Robot-Assisted Surgery (MIRAS); (iii) U-CARE Deep UV light therapies; (iv) 3D laser beam shaping for manufacturing.

Current industrial collaborators include Renishaw, Leonardo, Oxford Lasers, Coherent Scotland, SPI Lasers, AWE, MAN Energy Systems, MBDA, TRD Surfaces, Gooch & Housego, Luxinar, NSG, GTS.

Duncan graduated from the University of St Andrews in 1986 with a BSc in Physics with Electronics, and from the University of Southampton (Optical Fibre Group) in 1991 with a PhD.  In 1991 he moved to Heriot-Watt University, initially employed as a Research Associate. In 1997 he was appointed Lecturer in Physics and subsequently promoted to Reader (2001) and Professor of Applied Photonics (2003).  He has held a range of additional appointments, as Director of the Photonics EngD Centre (2001 - 2007); Director of Postgraduate Research (2001 - 2007); Head of Physics (2007 - 2011); Acting Head of School (2011); Director of Research (2012 - 2015); Acting Deputy Principal (Pro-VC) Research (2015-2016); Deputy Head of School (2012-2020); Acting Head of School (2021-2022) and again as Deputy Head of School (2022).

Duncan is currently Deputy Head of School of Engineering and Physical Sciences and Director of the Medical Device Manufacturing Centre