Clay Routledge, PhD, is the Vice President of Research and Director of the Human Flourishing Lab at the Archbridge Institute. He is also co-editor of Profectus, an online magazine dedicated to human progress and flourishing. As a leading expert in existential psychology, Clay’s work focuses on helping people reach their full potential and build meaningful lives. 

Clay is a highly cited researcher who has published more than 100 scholarly papers, co-edited three academic books, authored three books, and received numerous awards for his research and mentorship. As a public intellectual, Clay has authored dozens of articles for popular outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Newsweek, Fortune, The Hill, and Harvard Business Review. 

His work has been covered by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, CBS News, ABC News, BBC News, CNN, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Vox, National Geographic, HGTV, Men’s Health, Wired, Forbes, Oprah Daily, Shondaland, Discover Magazine, Reason Magazine, and many others. He has appeared on numerous television and radio programs and podcasts such as NBC Today, Hidden Brain, Science Friday, Cheddar News, and NPR Morning Edition. He has also appeared in a number of documentary programs including The Overview from NBC Peacock, The Benefits of Being Nostalgic from BBC Reel, Cursed Films from Shudder, and The Well from Big Think.  

He is the author of the book, Past Forward: How Nostalgia Can Help You Live a More Meaningful Life (2023), and he wrote the TED-Ed documentary short film, Why do We Feel Nostalgia?