Cass business school has an entire department dedicated to the world of actuarial science - a bunch of technical, talented, number-crunchers, who think hard about how to mitigate financial risk across the private and public sector. And it's run by this man: Dr Ben Rickayzen, a soft-spoken, practical gentleman, who loves London theatres but hates the Tube, and has 10 years of financial consulting and 16 years of academia behind him.

We caught Dr Rickayzen at a special evening reception to announce the launch of a new Haberman scholarship fund for Actuarial Science. The fund, named after the world-renowned actuary Professor Haberman as a tribute on his 60th birthday, aims to raise £1 million over the next two years to invest in students and teachers of Actuarial Science at Cass business school.

Dr Rickayzen tells us how this new fund will be particularly helpful for students from developing countries, to make it possible for them to attend the course. These students could be the future architects of the next generation of massive pension funds and investment bodies in the emerging markets.

Anyone tempted to apply?