This session aims to discuss recent and anticipated progress in radiation belt research. We solicit presentations on the effects of global magnetospheric processes and local wave-particle interactions on radiation belt dynamics, as well as on aspects of belt coupling with the ring current and the plasmasphere. Of particular interest is the relative impact of various electromagnetic waves for particle acceleration, transport, and loss. The session is especially timely because of ongoing European research funded by the Seventh Framework Programmes (e.g., SPACECAST and MAARBLE projects) and the anticipated first results of NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission. Also, papers on similar processes operating in the radiation belts of the outer planets are especially welcome.