Ion beams, especially protons, are a rapidly emerging modality for tumour treatment in external beam radiotherapy. The main rationale is the favorable energy deposition pattern, potentially enabling a highly conformal dose deposition to the tumour and optimal sparing of surrounding normal tissue and organs at risk, provided the treatment is delivered as intended over the fractionated course of therapy. Despite continued technological advances, limitations to the wide spread clinical use of ion beams include remaining uncertainties in the knowledge of the in-vivo beam range as well as high costs. In this context, this presentation will address different areas of research being carried at our department, which aim at advancing the quality of proton beam therapy via improved imaging of the patient and the treatment beam, as well as at providing alternatives for future compact facilities based on laser-driven acceleration schemes.