ABOUT
A psychology strategist thinking about the shape of a life
I'm Ian Boreham — a researcher, writer, and conceptual thinker based in Sydney. My work sits at the intersection of purpose, meaning, and the long arc of human life.
JOURNEY TO HERE
How I arrived at this work
EARLY YEARS
Growing up coastal
I grew up in a small coastal town on the East of England. The sea seemed to hint at open ended possibilities. I was academic from the start but always travelled in tribes - football, basketball, skating, weekend shenanigans. Good times.
ROUND ONE
Maths, Operational Research, Military Research, and Project Management
I began with maths and operational research at university - quantitative, model building, problem solving. I finished analyzing line of sight statistics for surface to air missiles (classified). My skills landed me in technology, running tech projects for large banks.
ROUND TWO
The PhD that changed everything
My doctorate at University of Technology Sydney examined purpose and meaning across the lifespan, with a major focus on aging. It drew my attention to how lives unfold over time — and what gives them direction and continuity.
NOW
Writing, researching, thinking
Today I focus on writing for a broad audience, exploring how people build lives with direction and meaning over time. I’m also interested in how these insights might inform policy and the design of social institutions.
RESEARCH BACKGROUND
What I study - and why
CORE FOCUS
Purpose & Meaning Across the Lifespan
My primary research examines how people develop, maintain, and rebuild a sense of purpose and meaning across the course of a life. It explores how direction and meaning are sustained, disrupted, and re-formed over time.
SECONDARY INTEREST
The Architecture of a Life
A second strand of my work focuses on the underlying architecture of a life. It explores the psychological foundations that enable people to build lives that are resilient, directed, and able to endure over time.
APPLIED WORK
Purpose, Policy, and Society
This work explores how insights from purpose and meaning can inform the design of environments — workplaces, communities, and public systems — that support people in building meaningful lives.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Boreham, I. D., & Schutte, N. S. (2023). The relationship between purpose in life and depression and anxiety: A meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 79, 2736–2767. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23576
Boreham, I. D., O’Gorman, C. & Bailey, P. E. (2025). Purpose in life and temporal focus across the adult lifespan. Ageing International, 50, 58 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-025-09638-4