Prof Norman Duncan

Prof Norman Duncan was appointed as Vice-Principal: Academic at the University of Pretoria in 2014. The portfolio includes responsibility for all nine faculties and GIBS and focuses on promoting excellence in teaching and learning at undergraduate level. Prof Duncan also oversees and ensures the implementation of the University’s academic plans and policies.

After obtaining a BA degree in History and Psychology at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in 1979, Prof Duncan later added a major and two diplomas in French at UWC and the Université Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux III, respectively. He obtained his MA in Clinical Psychology at the Université Paul Valérie Montpellier III in France in 1987, and his D Phil at the University of the Western Cape in 1994.

Prof Duncan started his academic career in 1987 at UWC and after stints at the Universities of Venda and South Africa, he was appointed as Chair in the Discipline of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2004 where he was subsequently employed in various capacities. He later became the Head of the Department of Psychology and, from 2006 to 2011, was the Head of the School of Human and Community Development. Prior to his appointment as Vice-Principal Prof Duncan was the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Pretoria, a position he held since May 2012.

Prof Duncan has extensive experience as lecturer and in developing curricula and teaching materials, has published widely in his field in academic journals and books. He currently serves as one of the lead researchers on the Apartheid Archive Research Project, a cross-disciplinary, cross-national study of the enduring effects of apartheid-era racism on people’s lives. He is on the editorial boards of several prominent academic journals and is a member of, among others, the Academy of Science of South Africa.