About The College of Extension

What is the College of Extension (COE)

The College of Extension (COE)  is a collegium of extension professionals and  is an Incorporated Association, formed in early 2020 as a result of some two years of engagement and planning. 

The COE has primarily been formed to address the lack of service and support to the agriculture extension,  and rural and regional sectors and the need to develop the future work force;  we have three foundation pillars.  

We aim to - 

1.  build and retain a future workforce of Extension Professionals;
2.  support our members to bid for and deliver high quality projects on a cooperative basis; and
3. reshape the Research and Development agenda in rural and regional settings, through enabling bottom up and peer to peer focused extension processes, to result in the  delivery of more effective and enduring outcomes to bring about practice change.  

The COE has a Board of Directors made up of the Founders and Foundation Members. The Board is supported by an Extension Advisory Panel. The COE can create Honorary Fellows of the College to deliver services offered by the COE. 

The COE is managed by Joint Executive Directors Charlie Thorn and John Noonan. 

Currently our membership is primarily based in Australia and New Zealand and aspires to having a widespread international membership of extension practitioners.