Ron Pace graduated from the University of New South Wales and received his PhD from the University of New South Wales. He has since held positions at the CSR Company, Sydney (1969-1973), University of New South Wales (1974-1978), California Institute of Technology (1979-1981) before being appointed Research Fellow at ANU. He was awarded a Commonwealth of Australia Scholarship for Postgraduate Study (1975-1979). He was promoted to Reader at the Department of Chemistry (2003).

Current work comprises biophysical studies of primary electron transfer events in photosynthesis. The research involves ARC funded collaborations with other groups at ANU, in the Chemistry Department, Research School of Chemistry and Research School of Biological Sciences. There are two main components to the work, Natural and Artificial Photosynthesis