  Radiation-hydrodynamical simulations of surface convection in low-mass stars
can be exploited to derive estimates of i) the efficiency of the convective
energy transport in the stellar surface layers; ii) the convection-related
photometric micro-variability. We comment on the universality of the
mixing-length parameter, and point out potential pitfalls in the process of its
calibration which may be in part responsible for the contradictory findings
about its variability across the Hertzsprung-Russell digramme. We further
comment on the modelling of the photometric micro-variability in HD49933 - one
of the first main COROT targets.
