text: It is known that most materials are polycrystalline and contain grain boundaries and that grain boundaries can act as sinks and transport pathways for point defects. However experimentally and theoretically determining what effect point defects have on a system is difficult. Interesting examples of the complications of how point defects behave has been manifested in the temperature dependence of the Seebeck effect. In addition the dielectric and piezoelectric response can be altered by the distribution of point defects near grain boundaries. Mechanical properties can also be significantly influenced with properties such as the bulk modulus and damping being influenced by changes to the distribution of point defects within a material. It has also been found that the Kondo effect within graphene can be tuned due to a complex relationship between grain boundaries and point defects. Recent theoretical calculations have revealed that point defects can be extremely favourable near certain grain boundary types and significantly affect the electronic properties with a reduction in the band gap.