Grounded Minds Consortium
The Grounded Minds Consortium is a pioneering transdisciplinary collaboration between Deakin University, Flinders University, and key research and industry partners dedicated to revolutionising the food system to sustainably enhance mental health and wellbeing through a focus on improving the global food system. Our stated aim is to ‘Transform the Food System to Promote Mental and Brain Health’. Our consortium leverages cutting-edge research and international reputations in microbiome science, nutritional psychiatry, agriculture, and soil ecology to bridge the missing links between soil, food, and mental and brain health in humans. Through generating research evidence and effectively translating this evidence, we act to confirm the inseparability of human and planetary health.
Our interdisciplinary collaboration aims to reframe environmental issues as deeply personal and immediate instead of distant concerns. Through a new evidence-based narrative and world-class science communication, we will reconnect people with the living world. Not as something separate, but as essential to their own and their loved ones’ mental and brain health. Our new story reframes the planetary health crisis as a profoundly human crisis, with real and personal consequences for individuals. This prompts genuine attitudinal and behaviour change.
Our holistic approach recognises that nourishing the mind begins with healing the land.
With world-leading scientific expertise and research and translation, our consortium aims to develop innovative, evidence-based solutions that enhance food systems, reduce ecosystem degradation, and improve mental and brain health.
We are seeking philanthropic investment to scale our research, implement sustainable agricultural interventions, and drive policy change that supports a food system rooted in both ecosystem and human health.
The challenge: a broken food system directly degrading mental and planetary health
We are experiencing a slow-moving global crisis, where poor diet and its consequences are now the leading cause of illness and premature death, driving heart disease, diabetes, cancer and even the most common mental disorders, depression and anxiety. Indeed, the burden of mental disorders is rising, especially among youth, with depression now a leading cause of disability worldwide. This is in turn linked to the industrialised foods we are eating, as well as the loss of diversity and keystone species in the human microbiome. This human biodiversity loss is increasingly manifesting in a rise in allergic conditions – such as asthma, eczema, and food allergies, auto-immune conditions including coeliac disease, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis, as well as emotional and neurodevelopmental disorders in children, such as anxiety, ADHD and autism.
These illnesses arise from our unsustainable, industrialised global food system, which costs the planet at least $20 trillion annually in health and environmental damage. This global system is the leading cause of biodiversity loss—over 70% of wildlife populations have declined since 1970—and the degradation of soil, the richest environment for microbial life, is rapidly and massively accelerating due to industrial farming. The use of antibiotics in industrial livestock production is contributing to biodiversity loss directly, through transmission to humans via industrialised animal foods, but also indirectly via environmental contamination. This loss of biodiversity in our food systems and environments is directly tied to the decline in human microbial diversity, underscoring the profound interconnection between humans and the planet.
Research from our consortium members positions the microbiome-gut-brain axis as a fundamental link between the microbiome of the air and earth, food and the soils its grown in, the human microbiome, and mental and brain health in people. Our consortium joins these dots and will create and convey this narrative to finally link the global data across agriculture, the food industry, the environment and climate change, and human health. It will profoundly leverage our gold-standard scientific research, global profiles and reputations, and strong science communication strategies to provide knowledge and evidence in a way that is fully accessible and useful to the community, scientists, policy makers, and international bodies to ensure global translation and impact.
Learn more
The Grounded Minds Consortium held Soil Yourself September in 2025, which involved free online presentations exploring the connection between soil health, the microbiome, and our physical and mental wellbeing. View the replays here.
Grounded Minds Consortium members
Professor OAM Felice Jacka
Felice Jacka OAM is Deakin Distinguished Professor of Nutritional Psychiatry, founder and director of the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University, and founder and immediate-past president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research. Professor Jacka has been responsible for the development of the highly innovative and impactful field of ‘Nutritional Psychiatry’, establishing diet as a risk factor and treatment target for mental disorders. The results of the studies she has led have been highly influential, being cited in more than 100 policy documents globally (e.g., WHO, UNICEF) and influencing clinical guidelines in psychiatry in Australia and elsewhere. She is widely recognized as international leader in the field of Nutritional Psychiatry research. She is an ISI Highly Cited Researcher (2020-2024 inclusive), putting her in the top 0.1% of publishing scientists worldwide for impact. In 2021 she was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her services to Nutritional Psychiatry. She has written two books for commercial publication, including the very popular children’s book “There’s a Zoo in my Poo”.
Dr Jake M Robinson
Dr Robinson is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the nexus of microbiome science, ecosystem restoration and human health. Grounded in systems thinking, his work explores how ecological and cultural processes interact to shape resilient futures. Jake contributes to global initiatives, including the UNFCCC and Grounded Minds Consortium and leads science-driven projects that bridge research, public engagement and imagination infrastructure. He is passionate about making science accessible to everyone and is the author of Invisible Friends (2023), TREEWILDING (2024) and The Nature of Pandemics (2025). He hosts two podcasts (Interconnected and Naked Thinking) and a new YouTube channel: @naturegutbrain. Visit: www.jakemrobinson.com
Dr Rubén Fernández-Rodríguez
Ruben is an Associate Research Fellow at the Food & Mood Centre. As an interdisciplinary researcher in Public Health, he is focused on exploring sustainable and healthy diets that promote planetary health, with special attention to mental health and school meals interventions from regenerative agriculture. He is part of the Grounded Minds Consortium, a Deakin and Flinders University Collaboration aimed at transforming the Food System to promote mental and brain health, bridging the gap between soil-gut-mind connection. Ruben loves translational research and has a ‘big picture’ mind and passion to conduct research that aids in addressing the planetary crisis regarding the industrialised food system.
Dr Damien Keating
Damien is Deputy Director of the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI) and Head of the Gut Sensory Systems research group. He undertook post-docs in Hamburg and Melbourne before joining Flinders University. His research is focused on understanding how cells in the gut that make hormones and neurotransmitters are able to sense the gut environment, including the food we eat and the gut microbiome, to activate the gut-brain axis. He has published significant work in this area in leading international journals including Nature, PNAS, Molecular Psychiatry, Gastroenterology and Gut.
Dr Martin Breed
Martin is Matthew Flinders Fellow and Professor of restoration ecology, ecosystem health, and genomics at Flinders University. Some career highlights include working with the UN and WHO on the links between biodiversity and human health via the microbiome, serving as a patron for the IUCN Species Survival Commission, and teaching amazingly resilient and optimistic students during COVID-19. He runs a close-knit research group (https://restorationecology.com.au/) that develops solutions to pressing global issues. Examples of their work include working on optimising biodiverse urban green spaces to maximise human health and biodiversity; pioneering the use of genomics to improve ecosystem restoration; and harnessing the power of plant-microbe interactions to improve ecosystem outcomes under global change. He is a passionate university educator who aims to enable the next generation to turn around the global environmental tide from decline and degradation to repair and restoration. He is course coordinator for the BSc(Biodiversity & Conservation) and has a number of additional teaching coordination and delivery duties.
Dr Craig Liddicoat
Craig is a microbiome and One Health researcher at Flinders University. He uses DNA-based tools to examine the roles of microbial communities in soil-plant systems, animals and humans to better understand both beneficial and harmful microbial connections between ecosystems and human health. Recently he has been investigating the restoration of health-promoting soil biodiversity within the ‘People, Cities and Nature’ research program based in Aotearoa New Zealand. Prior to academia, Craig has over 15 years’ experience working in natural resource management sciences, which built a deep appreciation of agroecological principles at paddock, landscape and community scales. In 2026, his Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award studies will be examining shifts in soil health and microbiome functioning under alternate land use and management.
Dr Feargal Ryan
Dr Feargal J. Ryan is an NHMRC Investigator and head of the Computational Multi-Omics Group at Flinders University. He specialises in systems biology and the use of big data to understand how the gut, immune system and brain interact in health and disease. His work spans a broad range of conditions, including inflammatory disease, cancer and viral infections. He has led major microbiome and transcriptome studies, developed computational tools and reproducible workflows for genomic and metagenomic data analysis, and published over 40 peer-reviewed studies, including papers in Nature and Science. His research has been widely cited in the scientific literature and in policy reports from the EU, WHO and other governmental bodies. Dr Ryan is also a dedicated advocate for bioinformatics and for building national capacity in Australia. As Vice-President of the Australian Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Society (ABACBS), he plays an active role in fostering national initiatives that advance the field.
Stuart McAlpine
Stuart McAlpine, a fourth-generation farmer, manages a 5,000-hectare farm in Buntine, Western Australia, with his wife, Leanne. He co-founded the Liebe Group, a leading grower group, serving as its first President in 2007. Stuart initiated the Regional Repopulation Plan with the Shire of Dalwallinu in 2010, assisting in a 15% population increase. He also co-founded the Regional Regeneration Alliance, a non-profit supporting sustainable land, economic, and community projects. Stuart has expert knowledge in soil and regenerative agriculture practice and his efforts in natural resource management saw him honoured as a Soil Champion in the International Year of Soil 2015 and then added to the Regional Natural Resource Management Leadership Honour Roll in 2016 by the Northern Agricultural Catchment Council in Western Australia. In 2026 he was a was finalist in the Bob Hawke Landcare Award. He regularly lectures at the University of Western Sydney’s Soil Biology Masterclass and chairs RegenWA, a network promoting innovative land management practices and is a non-executive director for PerthNRM.
Stuart was previously a non-executive director with Wide Open Agriculture Ltd., Australia’s first regenerative agriculture company listed on the ASX, supplying lupins for Buntine Protein and beef to Dirty Clean Food as a regenerative supplier.
Dr Aydin Enez
Aydin Enez is a Research Fellow with a PhD in Biological Science, specializing in soil health, sustainable agriculture, and plant-microbe interactions. His research aligns with the mission of the Grounded Minds Consortium, which explores the soil–gut–brain connection to advance human health. Aydin’s work focuses on improving soil fertility and crop productivity using sustainable inputs and management practices, addressing global challenges in food security and human health.
Passionate about bridging science and practice, Aydin emphasizes innovation and community co-design to translate research into real-world solutions for farmers, educators, and policymakers. His collaborations aim to create resilient food systems that nourish both people and the planet, fostering ecosystems that support physical and mental well-being. Through his work, Aydin advocates for healthy soils as a foundation for thriving communities and sustainable futures.
Eli Court
Eli Court is the CEO at Soils for Life, an organisation that works to support Australian farmers to regenerate soils and landscapes. A skilled communicator, a builder of bridges and a person who loves to bring people together to work towards a common cause, Eli understands the reality and challenges of farming, and is deeply committed to soil and landscape restoration. He has over a decade of experience in the non-profit sector working on climate and sustainability research, policy and engagement. He was previously Engagement Director at Farmers for Climate Action and System Lead (Food, Land and Oceans) at ClimateWorks Centre, as well as holding a range of roles in energy systems, community building, policy, advocacy and law.
Professor Steve Allender
Steven Allender is Professor of Public Health and founding Director of the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE) at Deakin University, a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre since 2003. Steve has an ongoing programme of research on solving complex problems with a focus on the burden of chronic disease and obesity prevention. Recent work has seen a particular interest in the burden of chronic disease, malnutrition and climate change in developed and developing countries and the possibilities for using complex systems approaches for community-based intervention.
Prof Allender leads NHMRC Partnership grants and is a lead investigator on the Centre of Research Excellence in Food Retail Environments for Health, MRFF Rapid Translation grants and has received lead investigator funding from bodies including the US National Institutes of Health, National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Heart Foundation, VicHealth, the British Heart Foundation, the Western Alliance, European Heart Foundation and the European Union. The GLOBE team support efforts to improve health in over 30 countries world-wide and work directly with the WHO to achieve these aims.
Dr Carmen Vargas
Carmen Vargas is a public health nutrition professional with a Bachelor of Dietetics and Nutrition and a double master’s in public health and international development at La Trobe University. Carmen’s public health nutrition career is underpinned by her interest in prevention through nutritional education programs and healthy eating advocacy campaigns in Mexico. Her personal values strongly align with social justice and equity, which motivates her to work towards creating a more inclusive society.
Carmen recently completed her PhD in 2024, where she investigated “The Theory and Practice of Co-creation to Develop Health-Enabling Initiatives” with a Food Retail Perspective after successfully gaining a funded position with the Centre for Excellence in Food Retail Environments for Health (RE-FRESH) – the first international centre for healthy food retail research, policy and practice, based in Melbourne, Australia. Carmen is currently applying her co-creation learning, in combination with systems thinking theory, to explore ways to support the transformation of local food systems.
James McLannan
James McLannan is CEO and Co-Founder of Farm My School, bringing over 20 years of experience in environmental education, sustainability practice, and food systems innovation. He holds a Graduate Diploma of Education, a Bachelor of Outdoor & Environmental Education from La Trobe University, and qualifications in Training and Education and Agriculture. In 2024, James received dual recognition as Bellarine Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year and inaugural recipient of Jamie Oliver’s Food Hero Award for Food Entrepreneur of the Year. His work focuses on transforming underutilised school grounds into regenerative market gardens that integrate hands-on learning with food production. The goal is creating scalable, financially sustainable models that address food insecurity, build climate resilience, and reconnect people with land and purpose through experiential education in regenerative farming.
Michelle Brownstein
Michelle Brownstein is the Community Engagement Manager at Farm My School, where she leads strategic partnership development and revenue diversification. She is a qualified clinical nutritionist with her own nutrition clinic and holds a Bachelor of International Business, bringing over 20 years of strategic leadership in the not-for-profit sector. This unique combination of food systems expertise and business acumen enables her to design engagement strategies that connect regenerative agriculture with community health and financial sustainability. Michelle’s professional focus centres on building multi-sector partnerships that drive organisational scale and impact. At Farm My School, her work positions the organisation for strategic growth through sustainable engagement models that amplify reach whilst maintaining authentic community connections. The goal is scaling Farm My School’s transformative approach to create systemic impact across food systems, nutrition education, and environmental stewardship.
Statement of Hope
“We have never been more connected through technology than we are today, yet never more disconnected from nature. Life is not digital; it is a continuum that is alive, breathing, and constantly renewing. Digital systems are made from fragments such as pixels of light and units of data. When arranged together they create the appearance of continuity, but they remain separate points. Nature is different. It moves in an unbroken flow that stretches, responds, and adapts through relationship. This disconnection is most evident in the way we now produce food. Modern agriculture has interrupted the living exchange between plant roots and soil through the microbiome. This is the ancient interface that transfers energy and information from the earth into plants, and then into animals and humans. Artificial fertilisers and pesticides were designed to accelerate production, but in doing so they disrupted the system that evolved to nourish life. As a result we produce food that is rich in calories but poor in the diverse compounds required for health. Our soils, which should grow in vitality, have instead been losing their biological strength. Yet there is a way forward. When we restore the continuous connection between soil, plants, animals, and people, nature resumes its quiet and reliable work of renewal. Technology can help us see this process by offering pictures and patterns that reveal change, much like art that forms an image when small pieces are viewed together. These tools can guide us, but they remain snapshots of a living world that is always in motion. Through trust, curiosity, and reconnection, we can bring human innovation into harmony with the intelligence of nature. By doing so we can restore health to our soils, improve the nourishment of our food, and strengthen the wellbeing of our communities. This is our hope: that by rebuilding the continuous living connection that supports all life, we can create a future where people and the planet flourish together.”
Stuart McAlpine