Here below you can find all master courses the University Centre offers. All courses are taught in 1-3 week modules running from August through June. See how the courses are organised in the teaching schedule for both programs. Usually 2-3 courses are taught at the same time, but students may only enroll in one course at a time.
The master courses are available to you whether you plan to pursue a degree or just take a course or courses. Please review the options for guest studies to determine how you can apply.
For further information, contact the Administrative Director of Education and Teaching.
Proposal Writing
- Spring 2026
- Instructor: Dr. Brack Hale
About the course
The course provides students with understanding, skills and competence in research design and proposal writing. This course is a series of workshops designed to provide students with the tools for developing a good research proposal.
The course also includes training on ethics in research.
Instructor
is the Academic Director of the Coastal and Marine Managment program at UW.
Brack holds a Ph.D. in Land Resources from University of Wisconsin-Madison and a M.E.M. degree in Water Resources from Duke University. Before joining us at UW, he was a full professor of Biology and Environmental Science, and division chair of the Division of Environment, Math, Psychology, and Health at Franklin University Switzerland. He also served as interim Dean of Academic Affairs for one semester before coming to UW.
Dr. Hale has extensive experience in academic administration, curriculum development, teaching and quality assessment, as well as leadership and management. He has been engaged in various collaborations with UW since 2014, bringing student groups and spending a semester on sabbatical at here in 2017.
Learning outcome
On completion of the course, a student:
- can design a research proposal and justify the research design
- can develop a sound framework for a research project at the master‘s level
- can formulate research questions and aims and explain how they can be addressed
- can identify ethical issues that may arise in research
- can identify and discuss key academic literature/landmark studies related to a particular subject within coastal studies
- can successfully write a full research proposal where compelling arguments are given for the most suitable research methods.