After attending Manchester High School for Girls, Elizabeth Acton came to New Hall in 1970 to study engineering. She became a Fellow of New Hall in 1980. She worked for TopExpress Ltd (Portugal Place, Cambridge) for a number of years in the 1980s. She was Director of Studies in Engineering for New Hall for many years. She was also active in many other areas of College life: she was Senior Treasurer of New Hall Union for a time in the early 1980s and of New Hall Boat Club from 1983-92; and she was a member of many College committees over the years, including the Computer Committee, the Budget Committee, the Admissions Committee, the Stipends Committee, the Long Term Planning Committee and the Academic Policy Committee. Dr Acton’s name came to be synonymous with engineering at the College: on her death in 2012, a fund was set up in her memory to support women in engineering at all levels in the University of Cambridge.