Yacine studied at École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay in France as a public servant trainee, a status obtained through national competitive exams in humanities and social sciences. He holds bachelor’s degrees in sociology (first class) and economics (first class), a 'Grande École' degree in economics for ENS Paris-Saclay, as well as an MSc in development economics from the University of Oxford. During his traineeship, Yacine gathered fieldwork experience in Dakar, Senegal, and policy experience in the French Embassy in London, the cabinet of Paris’s deputy mayor in charge of agriculture and food, and at the Higher Council for Agricultural Cooperation. In 2023-2024 as a predoctoral researcher, Yacine researched labour market intermediation in the Oxford Martin School's Future of Development programme.

His research at the Blavatnik School will focus on European investments in Western Africa, and the implications of the Global Gateway strategy for development and geopolitics.

Yacine is an Oxford Martin School-Blavatnik scholar.