Lionel Simonot research activities focus on the optical properties and appearance of materials at different scales.

He is deputy Director of GDR CNRS 2044 APPAMAT, a grouping of researchers focused on material appearance created in 2019 by the French national center for scientific research (CNRS). He coordinated the book 'Radiometry of wet surfaces' with the authors who belong as well to the GDR Appamat,.

He also co-directed the collective work 'When matter diffuses light'