Existential Wellbeing

The Existential Wellbeing Lab is an interdisciplinary research group exploring well-being, with a particular focus on existential human concerns. Our team brings together expertise from theology, psychology, sociology, and philosophy, using a broad methodological palette that ranges from quantitative and inferential statistics, psychometrics, and conceptual analysis to more qualitative approaches such as thematic analysis and phenomenology.

Our research spans fundamental questions such as: What is well-being? How can it be measured? What is meaning in life? How does it differ from meaning of life beliefs?  We also address applied questions like: What professional competencies of chaplaincy are required for supporting well-being? What is the relationship between individual, social, and planetary well-being? How do mental health problems impact close relationships? What hinders or supports the fulfillment of basic psychological needs in urban settings? How do people cope with transgressions, crises, and life changes? What affects the well-being of postgraduate students, soldiers and patients with severe health conditions?

Our members engage with a variety of interrelated concepts and constructs, including meaning in life in its many facets: purpose, coherence, significance, and mattering, the belief in the meaning of life, the sense of prosocial impact, religiosity and spirituality needs, basic psychological needs, life satisfaction, and prosocial emotions.

Although hosted by the School of Theology, our research is inherently interdisciplinary. We seek to move beyond what are often called disciplinary silos, to build bridges across academic domains, and to contribute to wider societal conversations about human flourishing and the role of meaning in the many contexts of life.