After studying law at the University of Durham, Raees worked with the then UK Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in her Parliamentary Office, alongside supporting the Joint Committee of Human Rights with their ongoing inquiries. His policy interests have been shaped strongly by his upbringing in Middlesbrough, UK, where he experienced first-hand the socioeconomic repercussions of deindustrialisation and austerity, becoming acutely aware of the formative role public policy plays in shaping citizens’ everyday lives. Combined with his subsequent exposure to educational and regional inequality at university, Raees developed a keen interest in the necessity of institutional educational reform and the role decentralisation can play.

Raees' time in Parliament deepened his perception of the global challenges facing the UK, specifically highlighting the urgent need to draw greater policy attention to the intersection between foreign policy and domestic affairs.

Raees is a Political Leadership scholar.