Brendan Shurina

Education:
M.A. Student in European Studies and Environmental Humanities; University of Virginia (2026)
B.A. with Highest Distinction in German and Foreign Affairs, Minor in History; University of Virginia (2025) 
 

Brendan is a graduate student at the University of Virginia in the European Studies M.A. program, also seeking a graduate certificate in Environmental Humanities. During undergrad at UVA, he double majored in German and Foreign Affairs with a minor in History. He is most interested in far-right nationalism, genocide studies, and memory politics. For his undergraduate Distinguished Majors Thesis in German Studies, he researched the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party and their campaigns during the 2025 federal election. Studying abroad in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany for the Fall 2025 semester, he compares the institutionalized German (AfD) to the Dutch far-right Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) and their uses of memory politics in their respective 2025 federal election campaigns for his M.A. thesis.