Giant resonance research: present interests and future perspectives

In the last decade extensive work has been done to explore and understand various giant resonance phenomena. The research involved the study of the giant dipole resonance as a function of temperature and angular momentum, the study of compressional modes - the isoscalar giant monopole and dipole resonances - and the investigation of their microscopic structures, the study of the charge-exchange modes both in the beta(+) and beta(-) directions, the establishment of the existence of double-phonon giant resonances, in particular those of the isovector GDR and the isoscalar GQR, etc.. A review of some of these advances is discussed and possible future directions in view of the operating and/or planned radioactive nuclear beam facilities will be delineated