This article draws on the literature debating research policy, research and the role of researchers, in discussing Jan-Erik Gröjer’s research during the 1980s and 1990s. Mode 1 and CUDOS refer to a research ideology where researchers themselves control quality assurance by means of e.g., critical reviews, often in peer-reviewed journals. Mode 2 and PLACE refer to a more reflexive but also more instrumental mode of science where knowledge is suggested to emerge in the context of application. Within this polarized world, i.e., between demands from modes 1 and 2, CUDOS and PLACE, [Editor1] universities as well as individual researchers perform their research. This article can be read as both a contribution to the debate about the researcher’s role and as a tribute to a friend who was able to investigate and practise different roles: normative and critical, theoretical and applied and provocative and humble, to name a few.