Peter Barry (1948–2016) helped shape modern cataract care and the ESCRS itself. He was a founding member who served as treasurer, president and later director, and he was instrumental in the society’s decision in 1990 to become the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons—then drove major research initiatives that defined its scientific impact.  His leadership of the landmark ESCRS endophthalmitis prophylaxis study—at the time the largest antibiotic study in ophthalmology—demonstrated that intracameral cefuroxime at the end of cataract surgery reduces postoperative infection five‑fold, changing practice across Europe and beyond and becoming standard of care in many countries.  He also championed outcomes benchmarking via the EUREQUO registry and pushed education and opportunities for younger ophthalmologists at ESCRS, reflecting his long‑standing commitment to training and evidence‑based improvement.  In recognition of these contributions—and his decades as head of ophthalmology at St Vincent’s University Hospital and senior retinal surgeon at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin—the ESCRS established the Peter Barry Fellowship, an annual €60,000 research fellowship enabling European trainees to spend a year at a global centre of excellence to build research expertise in cataract and refractive surgery.