What Events, Webinars, and Short Courses Does AOCS Host?

Updated

AOCS (aocs.org) hosts a mix of webinars, an annual meeting, and multi-day practical short courses, with some sessions available on demand. If you work in fats and oils, surfactants, proteins, or related analytical chemistry, these events are the main way to follow regulatory changes and method developments. The specific lineup changes over time, so the calendar on aocs.org is the authoritative source for dates and registration.

Types of events AOCS runs

Webinars

AOCS webinars are typically one-hour sessions on a single technical or regulatory topic. They are the most frequent event type and the easiest entry point if you want to sample the community before committing to a larger meeting.

Examples from the current calendar:

Date Topic Focus
October 07, 2026 In-depth Interpretation of New EU Detergents Regulation (EU) 2026/405 & Practical Compliance Roadmap Regulatory transition planning, interaction with REACH, CLP, and the Green Claims Directive
October 09, 2026 From Waste to Wonders: Designing the Next Generation of Biosurfactants Glycolipid biosurfactants for sustainable performance, with AmphiStar experts Dr. ir. Sophie Roelants and Elise Buggenhout
On demand Comprehensive Untargeted Lipidomics with Lipostar 2 – From Data to Insight LC-HRMS workflows for identifying and quantifying lipids

The EU detergents webinar is aimed at people who need to decide what to prioritize during the transition period — what needs early attention and what can wait. That framing is useful if you are in a compliance or product development role rather than a purely research one.

Practical short courses

AOCS runs multi-day practical short courses, described on the site as one-week programs. The current example is:

  • Practical Short Course on Food Extrusion: Protein, Pulses, Cereals & Other Ingredients — a one-week course covering extrusion of protein, pulses, cereals, and other ingredients.

These are structured, extended-format training rather than single sessions, so they suit people who need working knowledge of a process area rather than an update on one topic.

Annual meeting and other gatherings

The site references an annual meeting as a core part of membership, alongside journals and peer networking. The excerpt does not give the meeting's name, dates, or location, so check the full calendar for current details rather than relying on a fixed schedule.

How to find and join an event

  1. Go to aocs.org and open the events calendar ("View Full Calendar").
  2. Pick the event type you want — webinar, short course, or annual meeting.
  3. Open the individual event page to see the date, time zone, speakers, and description.
  4. Register through that page. Note that times are often listed in a specific zone, for example "9 a.m. – 10 a.m. CDT (Chicago, USA; UTC−05)" — convert to your own zone before committing.
  5. For sessions marked on demand, look for the recording after the live date if you cannot attend in real time.

What to verify before registering: the time zone conversion, whether the session is live-only or recorded, and whether the topic matches your role (regulatory, lab analytical, product development). The site does not state pricing or login requirements for these events in the material available, so confirm those on the registration page itself.

Choosing between formats

  • Need a quick update on one regulation or technique? A webinar is the right fit — short, focused, often recorded.
  • Need hands-on working knowledge of a process? A practical short course, such as the food extrusion week, gives you the depth a webinar cannot.
  • Need to build a network and see the breadth of the field? The annual meeting is the broadest option, combining sessions with peer contact.
  • Cannot attend live? Check for on-demand recordings, which the site lists for at least some webinars.

What else the site offers alongside events

Events sit next to AOCS's technical products, which are often the reason people attend in the first place:

  • Official Methods and Recommended Practices — more than 400 expert-validated methods for fats and oils, surfactants, proteins, and related materials, delivered on a continuously updated digital platform.
  • Laboratory Proficiency Program (LPP) — for labs demonstrating quality and meeting ISO 17025 standards.
  • Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) — for verifying genetically modified traits in commercially available crops.
  • Quality Reference Materials (QRMs) — known samples for ensuring quality throughout the lab.

If your goal is method accuracy or accreditation rather than learning, these products may matter more than the event calendar — but the webinars and short courses are where the updates and interpretation around them tend to appear.