Peter Barry Fellowship

Applications Now Closed

Deadline for applications: 2 March 2025

Applications are now closed for the Peter Barry Fellowship 2025. 

This Fellowship commemorates the immense contribution made by the late Peter Barry to ophthalmology and to the ESCRS.

The Fellowship of €60,000 is to allow a trainee to work abroad at a centre of excellence for clinical experience or research in the field of cataract and refractive surgery, anywhere in the world, for 1 year.

The Peter Barry Fellowship is a continuous education programme for trainees/young ophthalmologists who have finalised their training in ophthalmology and who are willing to increase their knowledge and/or surgical skills in one specific subspecialty in ophthalmology (adult or paediatric cataract, refractive surgery, cornea etc.). Applicants must be trainee ophthalmologists working in Europe, with at least 5 years’ experience, and must be ESCRS members by the time the Fellowship begins.

The Fellowship is announced at each ESCRS Annual Congress, to start the following year.

Fellowship timeline

Applications for the Peter Barry Fellowship will open on the first Monday in December. Applications will be accepted until the first Monday in March. 

Upon receipt of the proposal, ESCRS staff will confirm whether a full application package has been submitted and that the applicant is eligible as per the criteria presented above. All applications with administrative fails will be contacted and with a request to complete the application. Should the applicant(s) not fulfil this, the applications will be discarded and not submitted to the expert panel for evaluation. Applicants of these discarded applications will be immediately informed about the rejection. 

Eligible applications will be considered by the external expert panel against the quality of the proposed research importance assessment criteria. Reviewers will score applications (with a maximum of 60 points) and add their comments on the proposal within a review form. Factors considered for the evaluation of the applicants are: 

  • Applicant experience (including publications, research activities, Awards) 

  • Letter-of-intent (aims, cost to benefit relation, post-fellowship plans) 

  • Letter of recommendation from Head of department within current institution and the impact that the training will have on the home centre and/or region. 

  • Letter from potential host institution 

  • These review forms will then be shared with the ESCRS team who will rank the received applications. Applications need to obtain a minimum score of 40 out of 60 points AND receive the recommendation from the reviewer to be considered for funding. Applicants not meeting these two criteria will be contacted by e-mail by ESCRS staff and be informed that their application is no longer being considered for funding. 

Selected applicants will then be invited for an interview with the ESCRS Peter Barry Fellowship Committee, who will conduct an interview with responding applicants. Upon receipt of the invitation, applicants will have a 2 (two) week deadline to respond to the interview invitation. 

After conducting the interviews, the ESCRS Peter Barry Fellowship Committee will make a funding decision on which proposal(s) to be offered the Fellowship. This decision should be finalised at least 1 (one) month prior to the ESCRS Annual congress. 

A letter-of-offer is prepared and issued by ESCRS. The letter-of-offer is/are shared with the selected applicant(s) with a signature deadline of 2 (two) weeks.  

The Fellowship winner(s) is/are to be announced during the ESCRS Annual Congress. 

An agreement is then prepared by ESCRS staff, between ESCRS and the selected applicant. The agreement should be circulated, agreed upon by the Parties and executed. 

  • The Fellowship should start the following calendar year after the awarding of the ESCRS Peter Barry Fellowship.  

  • The fellow will submit a final report upon completion of the fellowship, signed by the Fellowship Supervisor.  

  • This report should follow the template provided by ESCRS, “ESCRS Peter Barry Fellowship Final Report Template” (please request this)

  • Every publication of work produced while in receipt of a Peter Barry Fellowship, as well as after the end of the Fellowship, provided that it is the result of work done during the fellowship, must acknowledge the support given by ESCRS. (See ESCRS Publication Policy) 

  • It is recommended that the output of the Fellowship be submitted for publication in ESCRS-related journals, subject to the usual peer review process and the Editor’s final decision. 

How to apply

Applicants must first complete the online Peter Barry Fellowship application form found below. Any queries should be sent to escrs@escrs.org  

Please be sure to submit the following in the below linked application form:

  • A detailed up-to-date CV
  • A letter of intent of 1-2 pages, outlining which centre you wish to attend and why
  • A letter of recommendation from your current Head of Department
  • A letter from your potential host institution, indicating that they will accept you if successful and describing the project(s) that the applicant will undertake within the host institution.

Applications will close on 2nd March 2025.

Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application following the review process. This may take 3-4 weeks.

Application Form