14th SLEIGHT Science Event: 2 days organized in partnership with the GdR Appamat dedicated to the topic "Metallic surfaces: texturing, functionalization, appearance" and 1 day coupled with the "Journée de la Recherche" (Research Day) of the Doctoral School ED SIS.

The Manutech-SLEIGHT Graduate School organized its 14th SLEIGHT Science Event from June 30th to July 2nd 2025 at Telecom Saint Etienne's premises (Université Jean Monnet de Saint-Etienne on Campus Manufacture). On Monday and Tuesday, the Manutech-SLEIGHT Graduate School and the GdR Appamat brought together around a hundred scientists to discuss on the topic “Metallic surfaces: texturing, functionalization, appearance”. The scientific Chair of this SSE#14 was Mathieu Hébert (Institut d’Optique Graduate School & Laboratoire Hubert Curien). Wednesday was a day coupled with the “Journée de la Recherche” (Research Day) of the Doctoral School ED SIS.

As it is the case every year in July, the Graduate School got together for three days during which students were given the occasion to take part. The participants had the opportunity to attend 5 topical workshops with 15 invited lecturers. A “Sharing Time” session was organized to allow the participants to exchange and discuss around some physical examples of scientific works. On Monday, a Social Event was organized at La Comédie de Saint-Etienne, allowing the participants to exchange in an informal way.  On Wednesday, the morning was dedicated to conferences and the Best Poster award. In the afternoon, the participants discovered the Posters prepared by the PhD students of the Doctoral School ED SIS. During this “Poster session”, the Student Chapters OPTICA & SPIE organized a game based on the Werewolf game to create a dynamic during this session.

 
 

To provide students and researchers with a multi-disciplinary perspective, fifteen keynote lecturers have been invited to present their cutting-edge research areas:
• Lionel SIMONOT, Assistant Professor at Institut Pprime (Université de Poitiers, CNRS, ISAE-ENSMA) in Poitiers gave a talk on “Light reflexion by metals: from optical constants to color appearance”
• Mathieu Hébert, Professor at Institut d’Optique Graduate School and Laboratoire Hubert Curien (UJM, CNRS, IOGS) in Saint-Etienne gave a talk on “Color of metallic objects: influence of the shape”
• Gaël OBEIN, Professor at LNC-CNAM in Paris talked about “Gloss metrology: case of metallic surfaces”
• Kaushik VAIDEESWARAN, Material Analysis Expert at Hermès Maroquinerie Sellerie in Paris presented the “Issues in relating colour measurements of high gloss metallic surfaces to visual perception of color”
• Florent BOURQUARD, Associate Professor at Laboratoire Hubert Curien in Saint Etienne and Sedao, Research Engineer at Laboratoire Hubert Curien in Saint-Etienne gave together a talk on “Pulsed-laser for direct coloration of metals”
• Nicolas DALLOZ, co-founder of Oraclase and working at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics tin Germany talked about “Laser-generated color management: application to full-color image marking on metals”
• Julien LUMEAU, Research Director at Institut Fresnel (amU, Centrale Méditerranée, CNRS) in Marseille talked about “Structural colors obtained with metallic thin coatings”
• Olivier PLUCHERY, Professor at Institut des NanoSciences de Paris (Sorbonne Université, CNRS) in Paris talked about “Metallic nanoparticles on surfaces: for coloration, for heating, for detecting”
• Yves JOURLIN, Professor at Laboratoire Hubert Curien in Saint-Etienne talked about “Plasmonics Resonances in metallic periodic nanostructured surfaced (for sensors and color effects)”
• Mathieu THOURY, Laboratory Director of IPANEMA in Saint-Aubin (Synchrotron Soleil) gave a talk on “Between preservation and change: the case of Mehrgarh amulet”
• Elliot ADAM, Pensionnaire at Institut national d’histoire de l’art in Paris talked about “Playing with appearances: investigating the uses of gold by Renaissance painters”
• Xavier GRANIER, Full professor at Institut d’Optique Graduate School and LP2N Bordeaux (CNRS, IOGS, Université de Bordeaux) gave a talk on “Digitalize and explore the appearance of archeological objects: overview and challenges”
• Johanna DELANOY, Associate Professor at LIRIS (CNRS, INSA de Lyon, UCBL), INSA Lyon gave a talk on “Understanding the metallic appearance in drawings”
• Laurence TARDY, Retired Professor at Ecole du Louvre in Paris, presented the “Reproduction of metallic shine in classical painting”
• Mathieu HEBERT and Lionel SIMONOT came back to give a talk together on “Bronzing and other metallic effects from non-metallic materials”

 

The Social Event of our SLEIGHT Science Event #14 happened at La Comédie de Saint-Etienne. The event included a visit to discover the history of this building (including the stages and the backtages),  and a cocktail. It was the occasion for everyone to create a link around informal scientific discussions and networking in a nice place!

 

On Wednesday, July 3rd morning, the floor was given to a conference on professional integration, testimonies from former PhDs and the display of the videos made by the 12 short-listed poster makers. Then the Doctoral School ED SIS awarded the best poster makers with a price completed with some goodies offered by the Manutech-SLEIGHT Graduate School.  

 

In the afternoon, 86 Posters were exposed to allow the participants to discover several scientific research works. At the same time, the ASE SLEIGHT Student Chapters OPTICA & SPIE organized a game called “ImPosters” and based on the Werewolf game. 
 

Credit: UJM – From left to right: Maya Abi Ghanem (PhD student, Laboratoire Hubert Curien and Continental), François Hennecart (ED SIS Director), Sylvain Georges (PhD student, GIE MANUTECH USD), Marie Traynar (PhD student, Laboratoire Hubert Curien), Agathe Cavanna (PhD student, Laboratoire Hubert Curien and INL), Gonzalo Puig-Samper Naranjo (PhD student, ENGIE Lab CRIGEN), Hugo Bruhier (post-doctoral fellow, Laboratoire Hubert Curien).

The SSE#14 steering and programme committees would like to thank all the speakers, participants and organizers. A huge thank you to Telecom Saint-Etienne for hosting the event on its premises, and in particular to its IT, reception and logistics teams for their invaluable help in organising this event.

See you at Jean Monnet University next Winter from January 8th to 13th 2026 for the 15th SLEIGHT Science Event dedicated to all the topics of Manutech-SLEIGHT.

Thanks for the support of: