Howard Duncan received his Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1981 from the University of Western Ontario where he studied the history and philosophy of science. He was a post-doctoral fellow there and subsequently taught philosophy at the University of Ottawa and the University of Western Ontario. 

In 1987, Howard turned to consulting in strategic planning, policy development and program evaluation. In 1989 he joined the Department of Health and Welfare (later called Health Canada) in Ottawa where he worked in evaluation, planning, and policy. His final year at Health Canada was spent managing the department's extramural policy-research program.

In 1997, Howard joined the Metropolis Project as its International Project Director and now is its Deputy Head. He has concentrated on increasing the Project's benefits to the policy community by creating effective opportunities for direct and frank exchanges between researchers, practitioners, and policy makers, increasing Metropolis' geographic reach, and expanding the range of issues it confronts. He is also the head of the Metropolis International Secretariat.