He has a background in philosophy, creative writing and comparative literature. His teaching and research are primarily concerned with literatures written in Chinese, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, with a focus on comparative and interdisciplinary approaches.
He is the author of "Landscape's Revenge: The Ecology of Failure in Robert Walser and Bernardo Carvalho" (DeGruyter, 2018) and the collection of essays "A Estética do Espetáculo: Cinco Teses em Walter Benjamin" (NEA, 2013), and is a winner of the prestigious Mario Pedrosa Award for Essays on Contemporary Art and Culture, awarded by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture. He has also authored two award-winning novels: "Samba Sem Mim" (Saraiva, 2014) and "As Noites de Hong Kong São Feitas de Neon" (Gato Bravo, 2019).
Yurgel has a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, where he also served as a joint post-doctorate researcher in partnership with the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Before joining Duke Kunshan, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Peking University.