[1] In 2008, she founded the Scottish Centre for China Research and serves as its director.

[4][6] She was involved in the setting up of the Confucius Institute at the University of Glasgow in 2011.

[6] In September 2014, she was also appointed International Dean for East Asia.

[7] In 2014, Duckett was elected President of the British Association for Chinese Studies.

[11] She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 2019.