'Programs of Research' are intended for large, nationally-funded research projects on an overarching topic.  Once a Program of Research has been approved, sub-projects under the program would not need to go through the Statistics Canada's external peer review process normally used for other RDC projects.  Rather, sub-projects would require a one-page summary, subject only to an internal review, greatly accelerating the approval process (as little as one week).

The assumption here is that if a major funding agency's peer-review process has approved a project, Statistics Canada does not need to subject the project to a second peer review.  The project is assumed to have merit. Approved funding agencies currently include:

SSHRC, NSERC, CIHR, CFI, CLRSN, FQRSC, Millennium Scholarship, Metropolis (now defunct).

For more information, see: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/rdc-cdr/program-of-research-academic-eng.htm