One of the most fundamental questions in understanding strong interaction is whether or not quarks and gluons play a significant role in nuclear systems. At high densities we need to explore the existence and nature of a deconfinement phase transition. At lower densities we wish to study the changes in the properties of a hadron particle as mass and electroweak form factors, when it is immersed in nuclear matter. Finally, we may even ask whether the internal structure of the nucleon plays a role in the binding and properties of finite nuclei.On the theoretical side the issues raised here are of concern to a very broad community, from those working in traditional many-body physics, to those building effective field theories, to those working in lattice QCD. Experimentally, there are many accelerators, mature, new and planned, which can offer insight into this field — from SLAC to HERA, COSY, CELSIUS and TJNAF. This workshop brought together key figures from all areas of theoretical and experimental physics concerned with this fundamental problem.
