Rory Duncan FRSE is a research scientist and policy leader working at the intersection of higher education, government strategy and research funding.

He is the founder of Duddingston Consultancy Ltd and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE). His career spans senior leadership roles across universities, government and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), combining international research experience with national-level policy delivery.

As UKRI Director of Talent and Skills, Rory led the UK’s postgraduate research strategy and designed and delivered the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships — the largest cross-sector talent programme ever created in the UK. He developed major business cases through government spending reviews and worked with universities to implement people-centred strategies that improved research culture, performance and outcomes.

Rory’s research and innovation career spans disciplines, sectors and countries and has attracted multi-million-pound investment. He has worked closely with all seven UK Research Councils, giving him broad insight across STEM, social sciences, arts and humanities, and interdisciplinary research.

He has provided strategic advice to the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, served on the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Science Board, and contributed directly to UK government strategies on People & Culture, Place and Innovation. Rory played a central role in planning the UK’s association to Horizon Europe and in designing contingency strategies for international collaboration.

Rory has held substantive and interim senior executive roles in universities, including Pro Vice-Chancellor, and continues to advise funders, governments and research organisations on research and innovation strategy, governance and delivery. He was awarded the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Senior Public Engagement Medal for “passionate and enormously impactful advocacy for research and education in Scotland, the UK and internationally.