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Julian Duncan was born in St. Vincent on December 9th 1933. He
attended St. Vincent Boys’ Grammar School. After completing
school, he taught geography at secondary school. He entered the
University College of the West Indies (UCWI), Jamaica in 1957
and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Botany and Zoology
in 1960.
The first recipient of the Sir James Irvine Memorial
Scholarship, he obtained a doctorate in Fungal Genetics and
Cytology at St Andrews University, Scotland in 1963. His Ph.D.
thesis researched nuclear division in fungi for which no precise
theory yet existed and he published a new hypothesis.
Duncan returned to the Caribbean in 1963 and began lecturing at
the UWI, St. Augustine. In 1975 he underwent training in the
practices of plant tissue culture at Freie Universitat in
Berlin, Germany. He lectured briefly at the University of
Reading, Britain and returned to Trinidad in 1976 to introduce a
new undergraduate course in plant propagation.
He set up a small laboratory for tissue culture applications and
updated his training in Piracicaba, Brazil in 1980. With the
support of state and international agencies, he later
established the UWI Biotechnology Research Programme and built a
larger, modern facility to develop local capability. He also
helped establish in 1990 the first semi-commercial plant
biotechnology facility in CARICOM.
Apart from introducing new courses in botany, supervising
post-graduate students and holding senior administrative
positions, Duncan founded the UWI Biological Society. He also
served on the boards of the Caribbean Industrial Research
Institute, Institute of Marine Affairs and Asa Wright Nature
Centre. He was the National Co-ordinator of the OAS
Multinational Project in Biotechnology and Food (1990-1996).
In 1994 he received the inaugural UWI Vice Chancellor’s Award
for Excellence in Teaching and Administration. In 2000, he
received a NIHERST Lifetime Achievement Award for lifelong
commitment to plant biotechnology.
Duncan authored a book on local flowers and published several
articles in recognised scientific journals. Retired since 1999,
he remains active in teaching and research, and represents
Trinidad and Tobago on the Board of Governors of the
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB).
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