Graphene is being touted as the new “wonder material” of the 21^st Century. It can be produced in a number of ways but the quality of the material produced is very much dependent upon the production process. In this talk I will begin by briefly describing graphene and its properties. I will then describe the current methods of production and concentrate on the two methods adopted in our laboratory – exfoliation and CVD growth and their current limitations. This will be followed by a section describing the work carried out on photonic and optical applications including graphene for use as a transparent conducting material and its application in mode locked lasers. The presentation will end with our recent work on applications in the electronics field including its use in plastic electronics and for field emission.