"(3) What do you consider as the main purpose of development research? It is a truism that no academic discipline operates in a way that is completely detached from economic and political interests. And yet, there are significant differences between the disciplines with regard to how they define their role and their responsibility. Unlike, let us again say, art history, Development Studies makes particularly strong claims to produce applicable knowledge geared towards specific aims which can, and in the view of many scholars should, be promoted by political and economic actors. This probably also holds true for development-related research within natural sciences such as tropical medicine and agronomy. One of the main issues at stake is the relationship between development research and development practice. Is it a relationship in which Development Studies is reduced to an ancillary role or is Development Studies capable of setting its own research agenda and framing its subject(s) in ways that may even be at odds with the powers that be? Who are the actors to be equipped with the knowledge necessary to achieve the set goals? And what are these goals?"