PACE Self-Assessment

Self-assessment for doctoral students and postdocs

Where do you stand, given where you are?

PACE covers eleven skills of academic life, from research methods and writing to supervision and funding. You rate yourself, and PACE sets your answers against what is realistic for someone with your field, funding, workload and support.

  • 10 to 15 minutes
  • No account needed
  • English or German

The PACE model

Skill A B C D E F G H
11Funding & Grant Acquisition D: Funding Literacy E: Application Writing F: Full Cycle Experience G: Funded Independence H: Portfolio Development
10Peer Review & Editorial Service D: Reviewer Initiation E: Reliable Reviewing F: Editorial Contribution G: Editorial Standing H: Editorial Leadership
9Publication Strategy & Management C: Outlet Awareness D: Independent Submission E: Pipeline Management F: Portfolio Coherence G: Research Profile H: Field Visibility
8Science Communication & Outreach C: Accessible Presentation D: Format Versatility E: Stakeholder Dialogue F: Impact Positioning G: Outreach Initiative H: Transfer Leadership
7Academic Citizenship & Service B: Active Participation C: Defined Service Role D: Collegial Contribution E: External Engagement F: Field Presence G: Community Stewardship H: Field Representation
6Student & Research Supervision B: Project Supervision C: Bachelor Supervision D: Master Supervision E: Doctoral Co-Supervision F: Primary PhD Supervision G: Concurrent Supervision
5Teaching & Course Development B: Session Support C: Session Delivery D: Module Contribution E: Course Responsibility F: Curriculum Input G: Curriculum Design
4Scholarly Reasoning & Contribution A: Gap Identification B: Literature Positioning C: Framework Building D: Contribution Framing E: Theoretical Critique F: Conceptual Extension
3Research Methods & Design A: Method Familiarisation B: Design Justification C: Rigorous Execution D: Quality Assurance E: Method Adaptation F: Methodological Breadth
2Academic Writing Craft A: Scholarly Register B: Sustained Argument C: Manuscript Preparation D: Revision Competence E: Efficient Production
1Research Planning & Self-Management A: Task Tracking B: Timeline Construction C: Adaptive Replanning D: Long-Term Follow-Through
Eleven skills, eight levels from A to H. Skills enter a research career at different points, so an empty cell at your stage is not a gap.

What you get

An expectation for your situation*

A doctoral student with a heavy teaching load and little supervision is not held to the standard of someone on a fully funded fellowship. PACE first works out what is realistic for your context.

Two views of the same result

The first view uses your career stage, field and funding. The second adds your workload and the support you get, so you can see what those two contribute.

A place to start

A roadmap orders the eleven skills by how far you are from that expectation, with a concrete next step for the ones at the top.

How it works

A few short pages in this order, and your evaluation appears straight after the last one.

  1. Your background

    Career stage, when your PhD started, work experience before it, and any extension for parental leave or care.

  2. Your setting

    Country, discipline, the profile of your institution and how your work has been funded.

  3. The model

    An interactive overview of the eleven skills and their levels, so you know what the statements refer to.

  4. Your self-assessment

    Statements describing each level of the eleven skills, each answered yes or no.

  5. Workload and support

    Teaching, job and family commitments alongside your research, and how much support you get from your supervisor, peers and network.

  6. Your evaluation

    Your answers next to the expectation for your context, in both views, followed by the roadmap.

What the evaluation shows*

Each skill appears twice: where you placed yourself, and where someone in your situation typically stands. The skills where the two are furthest apart are where the roadmap begins.

Radar chart of the eleven PACE skills comparing a self-assessment with the expectation for the respondent's context

How the expectation is worked out*

The expectation comes from a statistical model. Its inputs are the context you describe. Its output is where people with that context typically place themselves on each skill. The weights are estimated from a reference population, not set by hand.

The model treats a missing supervisor differently depending on career stage. For a doctoral student it is a real gap in support, while for a professor it is the normal state.

Your responses are collected for research purposes only. They are handled anonymously and are not shared with third parties.

Read the privacy statement

Questions

Do I need an account?

No. You can start right away. At the end you can register to keep your results. Without an account you will not be able to return to them later.

Who is PACE for?

Mainly doctoral students and postdocs. Research associates and professors can take it too, because the model takes career stage into account.

What if a skill does not apply to me yet?

That is expected. Some skills, like supervision or funding, only become relevant later in a research career. The expectation for your career stage already reflects that, so a low rating there does not count against you.

Can I take a break?

Plan for 10 to 15 minutes in one sitting. If the page stays idle for more than about 20 minutes, the session ends and you have to start again.

Can I take it in German?

Yes. Switch the language at the top of this page, and the assessment follows.

Ready when you are

10 to 15 minutes, no account needed.