Raphaël studied Politics and International Relations at Sciences Po, Lille, in France, before going on as a Gates Scholar to the University of Cambridge (King's College) where he earned an MPhil with distinction and, in 2016, his PhD degree. His research on Syrian and Lebanese politics was awarded the 2015 Bill Gates Sr. Award. He is an associate at the University of Cambridge's Centre for the International Relations of the Middle East and North Africa (CIRMENA). Besides his academic work, Raphaël actively engages with Arab and Western policy-makers on matters related to political and security developments in the Middle East. He is a non-resident research fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Middle East Centre, in Beirut, where he regularly publishes his research and policy papers. Raphaël took up the position of Rank-Manning Junior Research Fellow in Social Sciences at Oxford in October 2016.