Dr Sachin Chavan joined the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (HIE) at Western Sydney University as a postgraduate student in August 2014 and has been working as a research fellow since January 2018. Dr Chavan’s research interests are directed towards understanding how crops respond to biotic and abiotic stresses. His research focuses on plant physiology and biochemistry mainly in crop plants. He is currently working as a post-doctoral research fellow in greenhouse horticulture on the project entitled ‘Glasshouse Films’ with Distinguished Professor David Tissue. The project aims to assess the impact of innovative glasshouse films on plant growth, physiology, yield and metabolic quality in a controlled CO2, temperature, nutrient and irrigation environment. The project involves the use of novel cover materials including light shifting film (LSF) – Luminescent Light Emitting Agriculture Film (LLEAF) and ultra-low reflectivity and low emissivity light blocking film (LBF) film aimed at reducing energy and resource use in glasshouses while maintaining or improving the crop productivity.