ESS research initiatives workshop held in retreat at BCDM, Rajendrapur, on July 07-08, 2005. In this workshop the participants have identified four distinct but broad research areas under which research projects developed by the members (faculty and students) of the Economic and Social Science Research Group (ESSRG). The four selected research areas are: Child labour, Seasonal Migration, Sectoral Differentiation, and Micro-governance in Development. The ESSRG members were engaged in developing short research proposals for submission within the deadline.