Shaaf is graduate of the Bachelor of Psychology and Bachelor of Cognitive and Brain Sciences double degree at Macquarie University. He is working under the supervision of Lisi Beyersmann for his Honours thesis in the Bachelor of Psychological Sciences (Honours).

His research is focused on word processing of compound and affixed words, building on existing findings by introducing semantic context in sentences. Shaaf hopes to progress to further research in the Master of Clinical Neuropsychology in the future.