The 3^rd Venice International School on Lasers in Materials Science (SLIMS-2012) continues the tradition of the first two editions of the School that took place at the same location in 2008 and 2010. The name of the first two editions of the School was "Laser-surface interactions for new materials production: tailoring structure and properties", reflecting the focus on the connections between the fundamental mechanisms of laser-materials interactions and materials processing.

The 1^st School took place on July 11 - 18, 2008 under the direction of Antonio Miotello (University of Trento, Italy) and Paolo Ossi (Politecnico di Milano, Italy). The materials of the first School were published in Vol. 130 of Springer Series in Materials Science.

The 2^nd School was conducted on July 11 - 18, 2010 under the direction of Chantal Leborgne (University of Orleans, France), Maria Dinescu (INFLPR, Romania), Thomas Dickinson (Washington State University, USA), and Paolo Ossi (Politecnico di Milano, Italy).