Ernest Roland Duncan (25 January 1916 – November 25, 1990) was a mathematician born in New Zealand, who became a headmaster in Australia and a professor in America .
In 1961, Duncan became headmaster of Newington College, an inner-city Sydney private boys school.
Shortly thereafter, he immediately proposed that the school should be moved to a larger site in the northern suburbs, but this suggestion met with resistance from the college council.
In 1962, Duncan became professor of mathematics at Rutgers University and at the time of his retirement, in 1977, was chairman of the department of curriculum and instruction in the Graduate School of Education.
In 1982, he set aside a Trust fund to endow annual awards for "excellent teachers of Mathematics" in New Zealand and the United States.