The field of radioactive ion beam research has evolved over the last three decades, and several sizeable facilities are currently undergoing a major upgrade or are under construction. In Europe, these include ISOLDE - CERN Switzerland, SPIRAL2 - GANIL France, FAIR - GSI Germany and SPES Italy while RIBF - RIKEN Japan, TRIUMF Canada and FRIB - MSU USA are the major undertakings elsewhere. These will create unprecedented opportunities to extend our knowledge in as yet unexplored regions of the nuclear chart, and address key questions in nuclear physics, fundamental interactions, and astrophysics, as well as linking to other fields of