Professor Acton is a British academic and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia (UEA). He was appointed Dean of the School of History at UEA in 1999, and served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor from 2004 until 2009, when he was appointed Vice-Chancellor.
Previously, Professor Acton worked at the Bank of England, and then held academic posts at the Universities of Liverpool and Manchester, before becoming Professor of Modern European History at the University of East Anglia in 1991.