The 18th International Workshop on Advanced Infrared Technology and Applications (AITA 2025) ^†

1. Introduction

First held in 1992, AITA is an international conference that aims to present state-of-the-art research and recent applications in the field of infrared spectral range technology. The AITA workshop has been consistently supported and organized by the following organizations: Fondazione “Giorgio Ronchi”, the Istituto di Fisica Applicata “Nello Carrara” (CNR-IFAC), the Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione (CNR-ITC), the Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell’Informazione “Alessandro Faedo” (CNR-ISTI), the Istituto di Biofisica (CNR-IBF), the Istituto di Scienze dell’Atmosfera e del Clima (CNR-ISAC) and the Politecnico di Torino. The 18th International Workshop on Advanced Infrared Technology and Applications (AITA 2025), held in Kobe, Japan, was organized by the Japanese Society for Non-Destructive Inspection (JSNDI) and co-organized by Kobe University.

2. Conference Reports

The event was held at the Integrated Research Center of Kobe University in Kobe City between 15 and 19 September 2025. The technical program was categorized into 13 sessions covering the following topics: advanced technology and materials; smart and fiber-optic sensors; thermo-fluid dynamics and energy; biomedical applications; environmental monitoring; aerospace and industrial applications; nanophotonics and nanotechnologies; hyperspectral and multispectral imaging; non-destructive testing and evaluation; astronomy and Earth observation; image processing and data analysis; near-, mid-, and far-infrared systems; vibrational spectroscopies; terahertz imaging and systems; UAV drone infrared systems; and systems and applications for the cultural heritage, including the Under 35 Best Paper Award sessions.

Four plenary lectures were given by renowned scientists in infrared research fields. Professor Janice Dulieu-Barton (University of Bristol, UK) delivered a lecture entitled “Using Infra-red Thermography to Identify Thermomechanical Heat Sources to Support Material Characterisations”, and Professor Koji Sugano (Kobe University, Japan) presented a lecture on “Medical applications of infrared spectroscopy and wavelength dependent optical sensors towards on-chip spectroscopy”. Dr. Paolo Bison (the Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy) delivered a lecture entitled “On measuring in-plane thermal conductivity of a metallic thin film by photothermal techniques”. Finally, Professor Nagahisa Ogasawara (National Defense Academy, Japan) gave a presentation entitled “Polarization Techniques for Infrared Thermography”.

Almost 80 research articles from 20 countries were submitted to the conference and are slated to be published in this Special Issue of MDPI’s Proceedings journal (https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/129/1, accessed on 26 November 2025).

A Special Issue of Elsevier’s Infrared Physics & Technology journal was also organized and, after a careful peer-review process, several papers from the event were selected for it.

3. Side Program

AITA 2025 also prepared a rich side-program for attendees and guests that comprised a visit to the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, particularly the Italy Pavilion.

Moreover, a visit to the famous Himeji Castle, which is featured in many movies, was also offered. Finally, a spectacular technical visit to the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, which, with a 1990 m pillar-to-pillar length, remained the longest bridge in the world for many years, was also offered. This exciting side program also included a welcome cocktail, an exhibition evening, and a traditional Japanese banquet. Such events were much appreciated by all attendees and guests.

We are especially grateful to the tremendous efforts and assistance of the staff from JSNDI and the AITA 2025 Local Committees.

4. The Seventh Under 35 Best Paper Award

For the seventh time at the AITA Conference, a Best Paper Award for authors under 35 years old was assigned by the AITA Committee. The award is named after Ermanno Grinzato, who held the role of AITA co-chairman for many years and was a well-known scientist in the thermography community. The award supports young scientists who contribute scientific research on one of the topics covered at the conference.

The 29 candidates for this award submitted outstanding contributions to the AITA community, and due to the high quality of the contributions, the Award Committee decided to assign the prize equally to the following three authors:

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Dr. Neha Chandarana (University of Bristol);

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Dr. Julien Lecompagnon (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM));

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Mr. Meguya Ryu (Institute of Science Tokyo).

5. Committees

Founder and Honorary Chair
L. Ronchi Abbozzo	Fondazione “Giorgio Ronchi”, Firenze, Italy
Co-Chairs
G. Cadelano	CNR-ISAC, Italy
M. D’Acunto	CNR-IBF, Italy
G. Ferrarini	CNR-ITC, Italy
X. Maldague	Laval University, Canada
D. Moroni	CNR-ISTI, Italy
V. Raimondi	CNR-IFAC, Italy
P. Martyniuk	Military University of Technology, Poland
T. Sakagami	Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
M. Strojnik	Optical Research, Mexico
Scientific Committee
D. Balageas	ONERA, France
E. Dereniak	University of Arizona, USA
C.T. Elliott	Heriot-Watt University, Scotland
H.N. Rutt	Southampton University, United Kingdom
G. Steenackers	University of Antwerp, Belgium
S. Sfarra	Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Italy
M. Volinia	Politecnico of Torino, Italy
H. Zhang	Harbin Institute of Technology, China
Local Organizing Committee
T. Sakagami	Kobe University, Japan
I. Ihara	Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
H. Inoue	Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan
T. Ogata	Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., Japan
N. Ooka	the Japanese Society for Non-Destructive Inspection, Japan
Local Excective Committee
T. Sakagami	Kobe University, Japan
A. Akai	Kyoto University of Education, Japan
H. Endo	National Institute of Technology Niihama, Japan
K. Endo	Nippon Avionics Co., Ltd., Japan
K. Ikuo	Photron Limited., Japan
H. Inoue	Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan
M. Ishikawa	Tokushima University, Japan
Y. Izumi	The University of Shiga Prefecture, Japan
M. Koyama	Meisei University, Japan
J. Morikawa	Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan
N. Ogasawara	National Defense Academy of Japan, Japan
Y. Ogawa	Hiroshima University, Japan
D. Sato	Constec Engi, Co, Japan
D. Shiozawa	Kobe University, Japan
H. Uemura	FLIR Systems Japan K.K., Japan
K. Yamakoshi	Thermography Laboratory, Japan
T. Yaoita	Ken Automation, INC., Japan
Paper Committee
H. Inoue	Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan
A. Akai	Kyoto University of Education, Japan
J. Morikawa	Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan
N. Ogasawara	National Defense Academy of Japan, Japan
D. Shiozawa	Kobe University, Japan
Additional Members of the Program Committee
G. Del Corso	CNR-ISTI, Italy
H.C. Fernandes	University of Cranfield, UK
U. Galietti	Politecnico di Bari, Italy
D. Guzzi	CNR-IFAC, Italy
G. Ignesti	CNR-ISTI, Italy
Y. Kurokawa	Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan
C. Lastri	CNR-IFAC, Italy
M.Reggiannini	CNR-ISTI, Italy
A. Scozzari	CNR-ISTI, Italy
R. Sesana	Politecnico di Torino, Italy

6. AITA 2027

We are pleased to announce that the 19th Edition of AITA will return to Europe in 2027.