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Is it ok to go on a swim with your colleagues while on a conference?
I'm attending a humanities conference in Italy in early September. Since the weather is supposed to be good and the venue is close to a beach, some coworkers are already planing to go for a swim together. We generally have a very friendly working atmosphere, a good rapport with each other and hang out together in private, like having a beer from time to time.
I have basically no problems with going to the beach with my colleagues but would indeed find it kind of inappropriate if, for instance, my supervisor would join (I'm female, 28 years old, in case this is relevant). I'm quite insecure how to behave and would like to know:

Is it generally inappropriate to go for a swim with coworkers (as well as other PhD students)?
What to do if a person (like i.e. your supervisor) you wouldn't want to come, joins the group after you already agreed to go the beach?

[EDIT] Since questions came up why I could feel uncomfortable about the situation: I think it is always hard to find a good balance between having a friendly and a professional relationship (with my supervisor, but also with other people who are above me in hierarchy). I also regard the relationship between a PhD student and his/her supervisor as a special one, because it is based on asymmetric dependencies but they also work closely together. While I think having a beer or going out together is completely fine and helpful for a working relationship I consider the beach situation as a tightrope walk since people are (obviously) not fully dressed. It might sound a bit prude but I don't regard is as an uncommon thought. Thanks for your answers so far!
[EDIT] Even though I think some answers are really good and helpful I can’t name one that fully answered the problem and I think the discussion shows that this seems to be nearly impossible. Since many comments did not include answers to my question but concerns about my attitude I want to address some points I have noticed and consider as crucial aspects in this discussion:
Firstly, I was surprised that the initial reactions can be classified into two different categories: Either it was said something like “don’t mind, it’s completely natural” or “there must be some vibes between your supervisor and you”.
I think the existence of both parties shows that the situation is a little bit more nuanced than that: The fact that some commenters instantly assumed sexual attraction illustrates that the situation might not be as normal and natural as others state.
I think it's fair to say that sexual objectification of women is also present in academia (like anywhere else), and for me it's hard to comprehend that some claim partial nudity in a professional relationship would not play any role at all (obviously, it affects everyone in a different manner and even though I believe that there might be some men/woman who truly don’t care at all about anyone showing whatever, I’d assume it’s a minority).
This might be linked to the idea that – as one of you complained – women “think so low of men” and I indeed understand that this might cause discomfort for some men. Unfortunately, this fear doesn’t come out of thin air and is surely based on the fact that most women made unpleasant experiences in this regard.
However, I think it is interesting that this issue came up even though I didn’t directly address it. The motivation why I asked was a feeling of unease because we could be confronted with a situation of which both of us (or anyone else in the group) could feel weird about simply because we show parts of our body (I’m talking about common swimwear) that usually belong to a private and not to a professional sphere. I consider this part of privacy as even more precarious than, for instance, being tipsy with each other, which might happen after having some beers at an evening event.
I assume most commenters to be male and some might feel offended which requires some steps of interpretations of the situation I didn’t mentioned in my question (which does not mean that I didn’t have some of it in mind, see above). I also think this indicates the complexity of the situation and that it is probably not as easy and harmless as some might want it to be.

I would regard it as perfectly normal and natural. I was slightly taken aback when a female German colleague went topless, but that's the local culture so you take it in your stride, and hopefully if you do whatever you are comfortable with, people will respect your choices.

Sorry if this seems like a daft question but why would your supervisor's presense in particular put you off? Is it their superior status, some power their authority gives them that you are uncomfortable about, is it fear that you might do something embarrassing or something that could be used against you later?

I'd say just go with the flow. I remember being uncomfortable around my superiors when we went to a music do, but in the end I did share the dance floor with them, even though they were, well, a different caste so to say, as well as a different generation and so on, but afterwards it was all good; nobody remarked on how unusual it all had been or how many boundaries had been crossed etc. It had just happened and that was all.

Thanks for your comments, I edited the question and hope this clarifies my question.

@user78727 As an example for point 1 and for your edit, I usually go to the swimming pool once a week with some coworkers, and there is frequently also a PhD student. Generally, my advice about this kind of situations is... behave normally ;-)

My own PhD supervisor regularly invited his grad students and others from the department to a beginning of the school year pool party at his house.  No one seemed to object, or think it was in any way inappropriate.

I go to the University swimming pool and I have met undergrad students half my age. I agree with @MassimoOrtolano in taking it normally

In brief I would answer ok. Still, your question might be linked to many things, tradition, culture, religion, interpersonal skills. I never had troubles on gathering with friends and colleagues during my phd. Later on, in another group, I was basically unwilling to participate in a graduation toast, for instance. And you see, in some place it can be disturbing for a old prof to join a younger group such as his supervised staff, dressing just shorts. Not the contrary. Therefore I suggest you to relax. Again, an answer is difficult without knowing you, your boss, the colleagues and so on...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7915369.stm

Just go, but not dressed for swimming.  If anyone asks, make up a white lie, e.g. "I've been somewhat under-the-weather and don't want to go into the cold water" or "I pulled a muscle" etc.

I've experienced the gender reverse: A male professor at the beach with ~20 females undergraduates. And I was quite uncomfortable.

Thanks for bringing that up @JosephO'Rourke and Alchimista. This was actually one aspect I was implying when asking the question. I think it is interesting that you are the first ones who address the issue that it might feel uncomfortable for anyone else in the group. I think this is a crucial point since it also affects how you should behave yourself. When someone notices that others might feel uncomfortable has a huge impact on group interactions, in my opinion.

"It's no secret that sexual objectification of women..." <- Sorry, this is polarized as hell. "it sounds a bit naïve to neglect that partial nudity in a professional relationship would not play any role at all" <- So me and my ex-colleagues were naive? Co-workers going together in sauna in places like Germany, Russia, Finland are naive? The weight of this problem of yours is as big as you make it to be. Besides, it looks to me that you already chose not to go.

You're right, naive is not the right term here. It has probably a million reasons why people say professional bodies don't play a role and I'm in no position to judge this. I'll edit it.

@JosephO'Rourke why were you unconfortable? Were they making advances? Were they trespassing personal boundaries? In any other case, I'm sorry my friend, but it's you who had a wrong reaction. It was not the wrong situation to be in.

You know you can't take electronics with you into the bath..? I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

@Noldor130884 So because some people are okay with it, it's not okay not to be okay with it?

@Noldor130884 So me and my ex-colleagues were naive That seems probable.

@Miguel and I know plenty of colleagues who pick when they swim to avoid exactly that.

@user78727, as your second EDIT is longer than the rest of the question altogether, just a hint on this problem: it is often the case that people suggest the "X-Y" problem (i.e., you ask X but people think you really want to/should solve problem Y). Sometimes this is a very valid point, but in your specific question, I would say it is totally uncalled-for. I find your original question both sufficiently informative (i.e., I know exactly what you are asking) and I see zero need to make it about you as a person, or your relationships. So I would not bother too much about it. ...(cont.)

@user78727 ... (cont). In the same vein, I find the answer you accepted not appropriate either (nor the highest-voted one). They say "of course it is acceptable". It is absolutely not "of course" and there is a lot more to say about the topic than just point blank denying that there's an issue at all. Same for all the other answers which are slightly or directly blaming you for asking the question at all, calling you insecure or whatever. In the end, I'd suggest that this particular SE question just has gone hopelessly wrong, but not due to you asking anything wrong.

@AnoE One reason why I chose this answer was certainly because it was actually an answer after all :) I completely agree with you that it is not simply "of course", but I did ask that question in the first place. So it wouldn't make sense just to wait until someone will finally state what I considered to be the "right answer" from the beginning. I actually wanted to know if it is considered as "normal" in such a context and even if I don't regard it as "natural" it is significant that so many seem to be upset by just questioning it. So I received the answer that at least the social setting...

@user78727: no need to explain, I just wanted to give you a heads-up that there's no need for you to be feeling so defensive. You surely managed to hit the hornet's nest here. ;)

@AnoE ...is not uncommon, which I aimed to find out with my first question. How people actually feel and think about it is not answered but was also not part of my question. I do also agree with you that this question went wrong to the extent that many commenters just refused to address the actual topic. Thanks for pointing that out again!

@AnoE The comments and some of the answers seem to indicate that the second edit is very much necessary. I have to admit, my own first, knee-jerk, reaction was to frown at the question as odd and unnecessary. But both edits make strong arguments for why the question is a good one.

I voted to close because the second question depends entirely on personal factors.

Is it ok to go naked sauna with all your colleagues (of the same sex) as a social program? If not, the organizers of one conference probably broke the policy :-)

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

@user - Why would that be? It’s not only men objectifying women, you know. Also, to say that something’s present isn’t quite the same as blaming all of academia for it. ;) I’m honestly not sure how you can get “male bashing” and “anti-male sexism” out of such a frankly anodyne statement. It’s also fair to say that there’s racism, bicycle theft, marijuana use, and plagiarism in academia. Would you view noting the presence of any of those as some sort of judgment?

I'd add that learning to overcome various inhibitions by abstracting them away makes one a better researcher. Imagine you are a researcher who studies, say, Amazon jungle tribes, or, say, behaviour of people on a nude beach...

@sgf yeah. What's wrong with it?

@CapeCode Ah, ok. So in 2017 going to the beach with nice colleagues is not naive and not ok.

@Noldor130884 "in 2017" being oblivious to the fact that being seen in swimwear by superiors can make people, especially women, uncomfortable or afraid of consequences on their careers is indeed quite naive.

In my mind the answer to your first question is pretty simple. Yes, of course it is okay to go on a swim with your colleagues. Our colleagues are often our friends and we are allowed to socialize with them. While some universities have rules about dating/sex between faculty/students, there isn't any western university that would prohibit going to the beach.
The answer to your second question is what to do if someone you do not want to show up, shows up. If you think about it in general terms, this can happen at the beach, the bar, or even lunch. A swim at the beach is is in some ways easier to deal with, compared to a bar or lunch, in that it is clearly a social activity and one in which it is likely someone might behave in a non-professional manner (in this case clothing choices).
I suggest you talk to the colleagues you want to go to the beach with and suggest it be post doc only, or whatever rules apply (e.g., student only, non faculty, or assistant professor only) that keeps out the people you want. This has the advantage of not singling anyone out and realistically, there may be a whole "class" of people you would not want to swim with. As long as your rules are not overly discriminatory (e.g., let's keep the blacks out), I doubt you will have much resistance. In fact, my guess is you are not the only one to be concerned. If you do get resistance, then you should assume that it will be a group that you will be uncomfortable with. If you do set rules and someone breaks them, you should call them out even if you are not uncomfortable since someone else in the group might be.

and, if it makes you more comfortable, you can pack a sundress to don in case you feel immodest.

@Geliormth except that is not the reason so they would be wrong. I have never met a faculty member that would be offend by students saying we want to go out without the faculty.

I'm curious to know how would you "enforce" an X-only outing at the beach, where it's quite easy to bump into each other (especially in September in Italy when beaches are less populated).

@MassimoOrtolanomass it depends. You cannot make someone leave, but you can politely make it clear that they are not welcome. If a Y shows up alone, just tell them that it is X only and that maybe we will see you at the pub later. If X_i brings a Y, things are messier, but you could tell X_i to deal with it. The group could also politely split leaving an ever shrinking group with the X_i and Y. Again they are still at the beach, but there is a difference between seeing someone at the beach and socializing at the beach.

@MassimoOrtolano think about a bar. Sometimes someone shows up and you invite them to your table and sometimes you do not. Sometimes the table get big and a group splits off.

I believe this answer to make the most sense, and I am very happy that the OP marked this as the correct one. I sincerely hope the OP to have fun at the beach :)

It happens all the time, and I see no problem whatsoever. I can understand that you might feel uneasy with your supervisor joining, but nevertheless, I do not think it is inappropriate in any way (we are talking about a normal beach where also families would go, right?).
Besides, a beach is a public place, so even if you somehow wanted to prevent your supervisor from going, you cannot really forbid them to go to the same public place.
Therefore, to address the second part of the question, I think the only option for you would be to refrain from going with the group.

@user78727 "the only option for you would be to refrain from going"... I've been in this kind of situations as supervisor myself and, honestly, I would find inappropriate and slightly offensive of my student not having attended or not wanting me to attend for this reason. Since you explicitly mention the "not fully dressed" issue, I would feel as being accused of bad looks/thoughts that are only in the other's mind.

@Miguel: wait, you'd feel offended if your student refrained from going because they would be uncomfortable? People have varying degrees of comfort with partial nudity; surely removing themselves from a situation which doesn't fit within their personal boundaries of acceptable behaviour in a professional relationship is the responsible thing to do?

@Liana Sure. In abstract. It is not easy to do a comment that fits the variety of personal experiences and degrees of trust.

@Liana Also note the OP is not uncomfortable with her partial nudity, since there is no problem with her colleagues, but with the supervisor's presence. She is shifting the burden of the proof.

From the other side of the table, I often arrange non-student social outing's with my faculty colleagues to public places. If we run into students we either change venues or sit apart. Suggesting there is no way other than staying home seems harsh.

I'm quite insecure how to behave

I'll skip right past the issue about whether it is appropriate to go to the beach with your colleagues or your supervisor. Obviously some people deem it to be appropriate, and we probably will find other people who would suggest it to be inappropriate.
Your issue is that you are feeling uncomfortable about (aspects of) it, for whatever reasons, which are completely irrelevant. It is for nobody else to judge whether your feelings are appropriate or not, they are what they are.
The proper approach then, is clear:

Don't go swimming to the beach.
Do not, under any circumstance, feel bad about it. Not everybody has to do everything. Not everybody has to like everything. You do not need to be a herd animal.
Do not fall into the trap of explaining to anybody why you don't go. Just don't go. Don't talk it through with your colleagues.

This advice has one specific reasoning: by deciding on one particular action, and sticking with it, you remove your own insecurity. You now can act with confidence.
It does not matter whatsoever that there may be naked skin involved here. I would give the exact same advice if it were about doing a mountain hike (with you being afraid of heights) or a trip to the bowling alley (with you just having no fun whatsoever at bowling), or a Dungeons&Dragons roleplaying session, or whatever else.
It is also a good exercise; it helps to get into the habit of deciding your own likes and dislikes and sticking to them.
Oh, and if you need some objective reasoning of why it may be appropriate to stay away: there always is the concept of separating work and private life. You never need to be ashamed if you want to keep this separation up. Different people have different scales of where that separation has to be. You pick yours, and stick to them. You can still laugh with your colleagues and wish them fun at the beach.

I joined the site to upvote your answer and will later award a bounty to it. This is the only answer that deals with the actual problem and doesn't blame OP or the other side for their personal feelings about work and life separation.

I can't award the bounty until the question is 2 days old. Feel free to ping me because of my horrible memory!

Thank you, even in the case you should eventually forget, @Narusan! :-)

The usual trick is not to plan such things as a group activity (which might create some peer pressure to attend), but as an informal and optional gathering. Maybe there is a starting time for those who want to meet, but there should be no schedule, and certainly no discussion of any official business (to keep attendance optional). Under this conditions I'd guess it would be perfectly appropriate to attend, if you would like to do so.
After all, the beach is a public place. However, it it's an appointed meeting (as opposed to a random encounter), e.g. a garden party, supervisors are expected by tradition to leave early *. This is to ensure the others can relax and have fun. In a pinch, if a person you wouldn't want to come appears or forgets to leave early, you are always allowed to walk away. Please just do it in a polite and unobtrusive way ("...wow, look at the time!").

*It is a common courtesy for supervisors to leave early in cultures with high power distance. There, where a subordinate must strictly obey their supervisor, they can never relax in their presence. It is common for supervisors to leave early in countries like China or India and other countries that are reddish on power distance scale. You would never have to worry about it in Northern Europe or Anglo American cultures. Even though there are social groups in the West with high power distance where this tradition exists, like military.

"supervisors are expected by tradition to leave early": Please don't invent traditions that never existed, or, if it's a local tradition of yours, state so.

Dear @MassimoOrtolano, please don't assume things you have never heard of are only inventions. If you do not have this tradition at your location, it would be helpful if you had stated so (but you didn't, btw). But maybe "tradition" is a bit too heavy... maybe the word "customary behaviour" is a better explanation.

I totally agree with @MassimoOrtolano in that if a "tradition" is referenced, it needs to backed up by evidence. Personally, I have never heard of such a tradition or "customary behaviour" and supervisors and professors are usually the ones staying late and drinking the most beer in all but one environment I've been working at.

Rather than continuing to argue about it, maybe each party in this discussion would like to state where they are from or how much experience they have so we can establish exactly how 'local' the 'customary behaviour' may or may not be rather than all sides jumping to conclusions.

I've traveled through the Europe and never ever heard of this. Supervisors are really the ones leaving the last and staying until there are others usually. Others can leave and go somewhere else, if they want to, no matter whether supervisor's presence makes them uneasy or not. So, unless it's somewhere specific, Europe does not have this expectation.

I did my PhD (in math) in the US, and have since worked in North America and NW Europe and conferenced all around Europe, and have never noticed a particular convention or expectation of senior academics leaving gatherings early.  What’s certainly the case, in my experience, is that senior academics keep to a somewhat higher level of formality/professionalism while junior colleagues are around (even when the junior workers are letting their hair down a bit), and this expectation is strongest in the US and northern Europe, slightly less so in southern Europe.

@jvb In almost 30 years in academia, as a graduate student, postdoc. faculty, or long-term visitor at universities across the US and all over Europe, I've never heard of your tradition.

I have heard of the rule that the highest ranked individual leaves an event first, in the context of international diplomacy. See, for example, the US State Department's Protocol for the Modern Diplomat (PDF). The reasoning makes sense outside such formal settings, but I don know that it's considered a "rule" elsewhere (and ime academics are generally pretty lax on social conventions, anyway).

@MassimoOrtolano: If a beach outing is planned by graduate students, I would expect senior tenured staff to not even invite themselves unless explicitly invited, and to leave early unless encouraged to stay. It's more like "goes without saying" than a tradition - I have witnessed this  several times without the "tradition" having been stated by anone. Of course, if it's the seniors who planned the outing then it's a different story.

@einpoklum When you have a beach nearby, beach outing is not something that requires big plans: people just grab their swim suits and go to the beach, and if the beach is not large you'll easily find each other, like it or not.

I want to try and be practical rather than judgemental.

Is it generally inappropriate to go for a swim with coworkers (as well as other PhD students)?

Generally it isn't inappropriate, although it depends on which country you're in (more traditionalist or more liberal). In (almost?) all of Europe and in the US I'd say it's inappropriate.
But it's the specific circumstances rather than the general question that is the more delicate issue here.

What to do if a person (like i.e. your supervisor) you wouldn't want to come, joins the group after you already agreed to go the beach?

If I were in your position, I would say this depends to the women-to-men ratio in your group (for simplicity I'll ignore issues like group members' age range and transsexual/gender-queer members).
If you're the only woman - frankly, in your position, I would probably either not go at all (perhaps make arrangements with other people at the conference - a great excuse), or maybe I would join, but just dress in a shirt + beach shorts. That is, unless I wanted to attract some sexual attention.
Now, it's perfectly legitimate in my opinion for a woman to want to attract the attention of men in an out-of-the-office setting, and still expect to be treated professionally in the office; and as a male I would feel better if a female member of my group feels safe enough to do that; but - there is a minor risk of "spill-over" of sexualized perception back into the workplace. And you did mention you're worried about how this would affect your relations with your advisor. So it depends.
If there is a small minority of women - I suggest you coordinate with them. Share your concern with one or two of them, and maybe they can share previous experience and assuage your fear, or verify it. Alternatively, you could come with a bathing suit underneath shorts and a shirt, then evaluate the dynamic on the beach, and if you feel comfortable/safe enough, dress down to your bathing suit. Remember nobody has to know you have that as an option, and you could still make some excuse regarding why you don't even have one.
If there is a large fraction of women, things are easier: If some of them don't go, you can skip it too and not feel awkward about it. And if most of them go, then you'll only be one of a larger contigent of women.And   You can basically avoid your supervisor  and stick with other women, so you're never in a more intimate one-on-one situation with him. There should be  enough people (and enough women particularly) for this to be possible.
Plus, you could still do the "bathing suit under shorts+shirt" combination and delay the final decision until you're actually there.

What an interesting question, and when I first read it I had a totally different angle to it. Actually, when I am at a conference I try to get the most out of it scientifically because it is so expensive to send me there. Thus, in most cases, there would not be much time for a swim in the sense of a social event or some other private activity. I personally would not have wanted my supervisor to think that I use a conference for doing something other than, well, going to the conference. Of course, there might be time in the morning for a jog/swimming round, but then it would be "sports" and not a social event. I can just say that I - as a supervisor - appreciate it if my students do the same and also use free time around the conference to make contact to other scientists, search for a post-doc position, read an interesting article to be well prepared for a discussion with the authors on the next day, or just rest to be alert during the talks. A student who decides to have an afternoon on the beach while the conference is ongoing or goes to a party until late in the night, would have to talk to me afterwards.
If they want, they are free and I will be happy to support them if they just add another private holiday day to the conference journey to enjoy the surroundings.
So, my suggestion is to separate private holiday activities and business on conferences and to squeeze out everything of the conference itself. I wish you a great time in Italy in any case!

Italy is not in Greece by the way :D

I had a paper came out from an idea initiated while at sauna in a conference venue!

"rest to be alert during the talks" - a social trip to the beach can be very restful for some people.

@Noldor130884 Fine, we can shift the profiling from gender to nationality... no! it's a joke :)

I think you vastly underestimate the value of networking and social activity outside the strict confines of the venue itself.

Your attitude to work is really, really sad.

While I generally think it can be OK to go swimming/beach with co-workers and I have myself experiences with that in the past with no issues I do see potential for being awkward and I am sure it is not trouble free in all constelations:
It is a personal thing, it might depend on the organization culture and also depends on the actual persons involved (and co-workers not involved!).
There is no clear yes/no as those factors are not known.
You stated it would be fine culture wise, however the fact that you have asked here and think hard about it might be a warning sign. There can be a thing you cant directly point to but you have doubts (the reasons are only important to you). This should guide your decision.
Just two more thoughts:

In an academic setting it is less of an issue if you dont expect to work together for a long time (i.e. only till graduation or whatever).
The comments here do show that it is not a cool topic as implied (why else would the answers directly go in direction of romance, "want to sexually attract", topless, bikinis and so on). So it can be expected there might as well be equally insensitive co-workers (maybe jealous "at home") - which can use it for gossipping and similar.

"I have experiences with that in the past with no issues whatsoever I do see potential for being awkward" - sound like don't step outside your home, because a metor might hit you (and then you complain about all these meteors that hit people nowadays)

I am pretty sure the OP would be totally weirded out if she came to a sauna in Germany or Switzerland.  They are mixed sex, and wearing anything is forbidden.

There are also sex seperated saunas (and it was not the point of the question, so I removed that from the basic answer now).

@MartinBonner: Yet, I feel there is a difference in a conference setting to ask people to go to the beach or to a sauna.

for me it's hard to comprehend that some claim partial nudity in a professional relationship would not play any role at all

Simple solution to eliminate the concerns about the role that partial nudity would play in a professional relationship: eliminate the partial nudity.
Since you're so concerned about being uncomfortable due to being conscientious about how much skin is shown, why not just show less skin?
Example #1: Dolfin Aquashape Aquatard Unitard Swimsuit
(Check it that picture, and then decide whether that completely takes care of the "partial nudity" concern for you.  It would in my culture.)
That was the number one hit on Google images when I searched for "full swimsuit".  There are other swimsuits available too.  Many of the more "complete" pieces are what I would call a "wetsuit".  So, that's another item you could search for.
(Sure, if you look at Google Image Search for wetsuit then some of the images are rather form-fitting/revealing, but scroll down to see more pictures and you'll see lots of suits that aren't.)

I consider this part of privacy as even more precarious than, for instance, being tipsy with each other

And I don't.  (I don't view such privacy as being more deserving of concern than tipsiness.)
I don't say that to judge your values, but simply to point out that mine differ.  Different people have different attitudes.  Some people would say that you should stick up to your values and not bow down to societal pressure about what a woman should be required to wear.  However, I say, let those impassioned people win that fight themselves if they like.  (Again, I say: Different people have different attitudes.)
Your usage of the word "precarious" demonstrates a bit about your thoughts on this topic.  That, and the fact that you created this question, clearly shows that this is an issue that you find (at least a bit) concerning.  If you're worried about doing something wrong, or quite concerned of the potential social consequences that could come due to mishandling, then do what will make you comfortable.  If a purchase of an article of clothing will put your mind at ease, I think that is money wisely spent.  I'm not saying that every woman should wear an outfit just like this.  I am saying that this style of swimwear may be a very good option because it may work out quite nicely for you, specifically.  (This is based on the very little bit that I've observed from you so far).

Is it generally inappropriate to go for a swim with coworkers (as well as other PhD students)?

No.  (Appropriate.  Not inappropriate.)
Where I live, it might be a bit of an odd activity to suggest.  Swimming isn't frequently super popular here.  (There's usually 3 days a year, or less, where the temperature would make that activity generally tolerable.)  So if someone asked me about swimming, I'd find that activity a bit of an unusual choice to be inviting people to.
But if I went to a place where there is a nice beach, then such an invitation would be entirely sensible.  It's called taking advantage of the opportunity to utilizing the environment where you are.  If you're visiting a warm place near water, then enjoy the experience.

What to do if a person (like i.e. your supervisor) you wouldn't want to come, joins the group after you already agreed to go the beach?

Separate, endure, or flee (a.k.a. change your plans).  Really, there's nothing beach-specific about that question.

I think it is always hard to find a good balance between having a friendly and a professional relationship (with my supervisor, but also with other people who are above me in hierarchy).

This is unfortunate.  Consider the few people who are at the top of the hierarchy.  If everyone exhibited such attitudes, those people would be doomed to being lonely.  When I've been a supervisor at work (or in a classroom), I've endeavored to have rank gets tossed out the window after hours (or off-site).

I would not buy such a suit only because I'd go one time to a conference.

Is it generally inappropriate to go for a swim with coworkers (as well as other PhD students)?

This really depends on the culture both of your hosts and that of your lab. In a country like Japan it's not usual for colleagues to go to an onsen (温泉) together, although groups tend to be gender segregated unless modest dress is provided. My understanding is the same tends to be the case for sanua in Scandinavian countries as well. So in those cases you would need to decide if you want to adapt to the host culture for the duration, or continue to operate based upon your home culture. If your home culture tends to dictate a separation between supervisors and subordinates in "relaxed" environments then you are within your rights to want to maintain that as well.

What to do if a person (like i.e. your supervisor) you wouldn't want to come, joins the group after you already agreed to go the
  beach?

Let's look at this another way. How would you feel if you ran into your supervisor while swimming laps at the pool on campus? Assuming your supervisor is not acting inappropriately, it wouldn't be appropriate to ask them to leave since the pool is a public space and a lot of people enjoy swimming for exercise. The same reasoning tends to apply to public spaces like beaches as well. Explicitly asking your supervisor not to use a public space could cause some friction since you are asking them to restrict their actives. Furthermore, given the size of the beach it might also be a non-issue since there may be enough space for everyone to go without encountering each other.
As such, this question might be one of those that is best resolved if and when the situation actually occurs. There are a lot of ways that this could play out (e.g., your supervisor doesn't intend to go to the beach, they are going a different day, etc.) where you would never encounter your supervisor in the first place. Even if they do show up, they may not bother the group and be on a different part of the beach. In short, I wouldn't put too much effort into worrying about this scenario unless your supervisor states beforehand they want to join the group.

If one meets their supervisor by chance, one could say Hello and swim away. If the supervisor is part of your swimming group, this is not possible.

While doing my PhD in Australia, more than once went for a group (mostly) naked swim with a group of colleagues, some postdocs, sysadmins, some PhD students, some local, some visiting, female, male. We looked at it as a normal activity after a night out (sic!).
Ah, these good old days, almost 25 years ago...

Fun anecdote, but not an answer.

the question is put on hold anyway.

Anecdote (not fun), but not an answer.

Just another point, to exemplify how this can vary from field/country.
I'm Brazilian, and here, going to the beach with everyone from the lab would be pretty commonplace. Even a barbecue with a pool, for instance. But then again, swimwear is almost formal wear (but weirdly enough, topless/nudity is considered offensive/sexual - big no no).
However, in the lab (computer science), we would generally avoid any revealing clothing or physical contact. Rather commonplace for STEM, similar to my experience in France and the US, although the definition of "revealing" is slightly different.
But then I did a stint as a postdoc in a physical education college. The "common" work clothes were actually gym clothes (short shorts, tank tops, team jerseys - if they won the last match), with the exception of a few of the professors.  Pants? only if it was really cold, so a week per year tops...
My work there involved motion capture, which was done with markers, precisely placed in anatomically predetermined positions (so you can infer the skeleton from it). Which would mean getting "groped" by the trained lab-mates to position the markers, since we couldn't use athletes to test/debug the system...
Then, I started working with swimming sports. Which would mean a bunch of people from the lab actually working in swimwear, because we had to place the equipment in the pool, then getting the markers in place, and swimming while filming. At every take, the markers would have to be checked/replaced, because the water would move them.
In the analysis part, we would stare in those movies frame by frame, several times, until the reconstruction was just right.
In this context, getting "groped" by lab-mates (undergrads to professors, male and female), while barely clothed and being recorded by several cameras, was totally normal and done on an almost daily basis, without anything inappropriate going on.

tldr:
  I understand your concern, but it would depend more on the people involved than on the clothing itself.

On the practical side, what I would do: be flexible. The advice of going with "removable" clothing is fantastic, because it gives you freedom/flexibility to adapt to the current situation. I do that when I'm unsure of what to wear, from going to work in a suit and tie to having my trunks under my shorts on the beach/pool.
One more personal opinion: go with an open mind. I'm not saying "let anything happen", far from it, but rather give people the benefit of the doubt, until proven otherwise. Or you might risk turning a fun situation awkward.
The "buddy system" is helpful in this context as well, when you have someone you trust and you watch each other's backs... "If I tug my left ear, it means get me out of here now" kind-of trust :)

It is considered desirable to leave a comment when downvoting (the system even asks for it, doesn't it?). My intention was to just highlight that "normal" varies a lot

I am very surprised to read that this question even has a gender tag, and I am very sad to understand that sometimes women think so low of men.
There are different angles to see this, but I will cut it very short and write that there should be no problem if you enjoy an evening at the beach (especially being dressed up formally the whole time, therefore probably sweating like a fountain - in September it's still hot in Italy). It's supposed to be fun, nothing else.
I do get the point of peole talking about going topless or not, but I don't think that anyone wrote the following very clearly: not every men will stare/giggle/comment at you when you are "less dressed". Please notice that you are not the only one having to follow an ethical code, and that most people tend to behave correctly, even in front of a topless person.
This is even more true for people who work in a friendly environment and spend time together sometimes (source: I used to work in Italy and from time to time, in summer, we'd finish our work, get into the car, drive to the beach and have a swim + beer + guitar song there - no one ever had any problems and/or found that awkward).
Besides, some men can be shy as well to show their bodies. I had more than a couple of times to choose between "heck, the co-worker from accounting will see my hairy chest and my fatty abdomen" and running for the water because "the last who gets in the water buys everyone a beer" (I didn't buy any beer that evening).
If you don't want to go it's another matter completely, and you can say it plain and simple (you may want to review the conference material, or have a stroll in the city, or whatever), and I don't think that anyone will even raise an eyebrow.
About your supervisor being there, remember that he (apparently he is a "he") is a person like any other, and you may be surprised how much people can have fun / be themselves without trespassing ethical boundaries when they have some "free-time" and be professional during their work. If anyone should be careful about not dropping the authority-facade at all, it should be him.
EDIT:

Firstly, I was surprised that the initial reactions can be classified
  into two different categories: Either it was said something like
  “don’t mind, it’s completely natural” or “there must be some vibes
  between your supervisor and you”.

Maybe because it is normal to simply go to the beach and have fun. What it's not normal is that you assume it isn't. People ask if there is vibes, because in that very case it would be unethical to spend time together.

The fact that some commenters instantly assumed sexual attraction
  illustrates that the situation might not be as normal and natural as
  others state.

This fact illustrates that, since people normally spend time together "almost-naked", if you ask, something must be different than the "normality".

It's no secret that sexual objectification of women is also present in
  academia (like anywhere else), and for me it sounds a bit naïve to
  neglect that partial nudity in a professional relationship would not
  play any role at all (obviously, it affects everyone in a different manner > and even though I believe that there might be some men/woman who truly > don’t care at all about anyone showing whatever, I’d assume it’s a minority).

Pardon me, but I find this polarized in so many levels. You want to be a free woman, go out there and be a free woman. Nobody is stopping you. You get a glance you don't like? Speak up. If you don't go to the beach to have fun with people you enjoy, you are already losing as a woman and gaining nothing as a professional. Let me stress it again: if you don't want to, that's another story.

This might be linked to the idea that – as one of you complained –
  women “think so low of men” and I indeed understand that this might
  cause discomfort for some men. Unfortunately, this fear doesn’t come
  out of thin air and is surely based on the fact that most women made
  unpleasant experiences in this regard.

This should not be a question on gender, so for the sake of ethics let me refrain from answering. I decided not to answer to any general gender related comment, I'd rather stick to ethics.

However, I think it is interesting that this issue came up even though
  I didn’t directly address it. The motivation why I asked was a feeling
  of unease because we could be confronted with a situation of which
  both of us (or anyone else in the group) could feel weird about simply
  because we show parts of our body (I’m talking about common swimwear)
  that usually belong to a private and not to a professional sphere. I
  consider this part of privacy as even more precarious than, for
  instance, being tipsy with each other, which might happen after having
  some beers at an evening event.

This is the part that actually makes sense. Being tipsy with each other, in order to avoid problems, you should not get intoxicated. It's as easy as making eye contact with a woman in bikini :)

"You want to be a free woman, go out there and be a free woman." I wish this was true :) Besides that I don't get this comment: "This should not be a question on gender, so for the sake of ethics let me refrain from answering." How can gender-related experiences not be a question of gender?

Gender should be about issues concerning conflict / differences / inbalance between sexes. I fail to see the conflict here, but then again the tag is very "broad", so you are right, gender is related as a matter of fact. About your "I wish this was true", I can only say that if you withold something because otherwise "it may happen that...", your battle against idiocy (this is not a men vs. women topic, but stupid vs normal) is already lost.

You're talking about the tag Gender not about the topic in general? Anyhow, I see a strong conflict between sexes when it comes to women making discriminating experiences caused by their female bodies. The "wish this was true"-comment was related to a more general idea of your statement because I strongly believe it's not a single woman's decision whether to be free or not.

I meant about the topic in general, but the tag identifies it in a way I didn't.
Well, you strongly believe something very bad for the world I must say. If it were as you suggest, why even go to vote at the elections, right? :)

What I'm saying implies actually the opposite and is not a very special idea in various disciplines of humanities. Assuming that individuals are part of society and dependent on cultural, social, and historical contexts and structures is nothing that should anyone keep from voting, if anything. Even less it's "bad for the world", whatever that should mean.

The appropriate venue to discuss tags is the meta site. This being said, the original question has everything to do with gender.

This seems more like a critque of the question than an answer.

I don't think you should be "very surprised" at the question. On the one hand, looking at someone's body or being flirtatious towards them, up to a point, on a beach outing is not inappropriate behavior - coworkers or not; so there isn't a "correct" behavior, there's a range. And the range is perceived differently by different people in different scenarios. On the other hand, many many people, mostly men, sexually harass women. This is so common it's almost hard to believe - for us as men, who don't experience that. This and other points do make it, IMHO, somewhat of a gender issue.

-1 and stopped reading after I am very sad to understand that sometimes women think so low of men. Totally uncalled-for. Where did you see anything even remotely suggesting such a comment. The OP does not complain at once, anywhere, and posted a very objective, neutrally formulated question. And yes, of course gender could play a role when naked skin is involved, so it is not outlanding to add the tag.

Your answer and comments seem to deny that sexual misconduct in academia is an existing problem. Well, it exists, and it’s a problem. Or maybe you deny that there’s a potential sexual component to nudity in a supposedly asexual context? Well that is naïve. It’s not a foregone conclusion but the potential definitely exists.

Upvoted just for the incipit

And there goes the hate downvotes :D
@AnoE Sorry, but if you read the whole thing, more than once it is strongly implied (and even written in plain words) that men generally objectify women sexually. So no, it wasn't uncalled for. Besides I already did correct myself about the tag.

@KonradRudolph No, I'm not denying it, I'm saying that you can't see the problem where there isn't. So since "it happened" to someone somewhere, you are willing to avoid any social interaction with people that are perfectly fine? Your call, but in my opinion this is not the way to go. Yes I am denying that nudity or partial nudity has a sexual contest... if you are outside its sexual context. Sorry, but I don't see lots of people having wild sex in German FKKs. There are some people who always see nudity as a sex drive. Even less that do that with partial nudity.

@CapeCode Yes. I already corrected myself.

@TheoreticalPerson My answer (please read the whole text - because I actually gave one - ) came with a critique, because I believe the question to be polarized/polarizing. Sorry but i had to point it out.

@Noldor130884, I don't really see the need to make much of this so personal. You have an opinion, and others do as well.  "Hate" is not involved. I comment to let authors know about why I may have up- or downvoted, not to attack you.

@AnoE I don't have a problem with people downvoting, especially if they leave a comment. That is always appreciated. Yes I do have an opinion different from the other's, but people are misunderstanding every line I've been writing to the point that apparently I am denying that sexual objectification exists. :D Call that "hate", call that "bias"... Potato, potAto.

Are you in any way attracted to your supervisor? Or do you feel that he may be attracted to you? The fact you explicitly say the problem is the fact that you are less dressed, and not the fact you are socialising, would seem to imply that.
Otherwise, this is just a standard way to socialise, like drinking a glass of wine together.
But if there is from either side (or both) some interest, then that is the real issue you need to address.

Should be a comment. 2. Inappropriate as a comment... OP did not suggest this is the case.

@einpoklum I strongly disagree, there is nothing inappropriate in my reply.

Horrible!!!!!!!!!

@User same to your comment

I have to go with the 3rd answerer here, seems to me that your problem is specific to your emotional relationship with your super. I see it's been downvoted, which seems an odd, possibly even an emotional, response...
You write that at the beach you're not going to be fully clothed. I guess that means that you'll only have half of your two piece on? Oh, wait - you probably meant that you're not going to have your burqa on...or maybe your winter coat, hood, leggings, boots, mittens, and goggles. Ok. I've beaten that dead horse. My point, and it should have eventually become obvious, I hope!, is that what's "fully clothed" is context sensitive. If you go into the water -and that's not a sure thing, especially on Italian beaches - then I'd say the standard is different than what you might wear literally on the beach (where short sleeved shirt and shorts and sandals would be appropriate - just as appropriate as a swim suit. Of course there are swim suits and swim suits, and I don't want to get into body shaming, but the fact still remains (and in fact, I suspect your post proves it) that people react on an emotional level to others' appearances, and as a very politically incorrect piece of advice, you don't want either to induce disgust nor lust in people you need to work with (and yet maintain a purely professional relationship). My two cents: "fully clothed" for swimming is a non-cleavage displaying (although really this is more fashion than culture,imho) non-buttocks baring one or two piece. If you're uncomfortable with being on the beach so dressed, wear your suit under shorts and a short sleeved shirt (or a wrap-around).  OTOH, I never counsel anyone to avoid their gut, (meaning their intuition). If your gut is telling you there may be a problem, there may be a problem. There's no way for us to parse that for you. That is, there's no way for anyone but you to figure out if the problem is you or (I assume) him...or both.

A German on an Italian beach could very possibly be topless.

@StrongBad Because Germans often don't notice when they're behaving inappropriately by other cultural standards (probably because they expect people to tell them, which they usually don't.)

@sgf Your remark is totally unsupported.

@MassimoOrtolano By the facts or just by evidence on my part?

@sgf By both. Moreover, your comment is completely unrelated to StrongBad's comment because topless is accepted virtually everywhere in Italy.

@MassimoOrtolano Interesting, I thought it wasn't. I googled "is it ok to be topless in italy" just now and the first hit tells me that sunbathing topless is not accepted, the second says it's accepted in some regions but not in others, and the third says it used to be common in the past. If you're claiming that Germans don't have a reputation for failing to adhere to local standards, that's surprising to hear too, actually, although of course reputation != truth. If you tell me that it's rude and pointless to start a discussion on this with strangers on the internet, you might be right.

@sgf As an Italian with friends who go topless at the beach I can tell you that topless is perfectly legal anywhere in Italy (since 20 years or so) and it's accepted fairly well in many beaches (it can be less accepted in the South). It was more commonplace in the past probably because nowadays there is more attention to the risk of skin cancer. For what concerns your other claim, I've travelled a lot and I can tell you that one can find examples of failures to adhere to local standards from many peoples, and if one has to base such a judgement on personal anecdotes we wouldn't go anywhere.

What is your point?

@MassimoOrtolano So you're saying I might be wrong, not that I'm wrong for sure? On that we can obviously agree. But in my experience with Germans, they typically rely on other people being as brutally honest as they usually are, expecting people to tell them when they are acting inappropriately. If I'm mistaken in that, that's ok too. But if StrongBad explicitly claims that you may very well see a German topless, doesn't that imply that you probably only see a German topless? In which case it seems to me to be a violation of common practice.


text:
How do you track and visualize your lab budget when you have multiple personnel work on multiple grants?
How do you track your overall lab budget? University staff generate reports for me every month, but they are by payment code or grant. I usually have 4-5 PhD students, 1-2 postdocs, and 3-4 lab staff and 3-4 grants. I'm looking for spreadsheets or reports that you've found useful getting an overview of all your grants and staff at once instead of only by project.
A related question from a few years ago: Managing lab funds
Does anyone's university do overall lab reporting, or is everyone getting "by project" reports? This seems like a common enough problem that someone has a good workaround.

I have made these spreadsheets professionally for 15 years, and we have no "templates".  Everything is tailor-made to the PI's preferences and their portfolio.  Does your hypothetical template take into account that postdocs are hired at different dates, students having teaching appointments, contracts that use tranche funding, etc. etc.  What works for one PI very well is completely inadequate for another.  The approach I teach my staff is to visualize information for the person in front of you, not for a "standard person".

I would love to have someone else make this for me, but I need to know what to ask for. The admin staff who are supposed to help me are great at project-level reporting and forecasting,  it they seem flummoxed about an overall picture or burn down chart.

To provide a general methodology (not an actual template), here is how I would advise anyone to approach this problem.
The Problem with One Report
I will say off the bat--most PIs want a single report, and offices like mine absolutely will not do that for you.  The reason is that legally, we have terms and conditions specific to every award (even gifts).  You cannot mix the money together.  Indirect cost rates can vary, what's allowable on one fund is not allowable on another, etc.  Some money may expire earlier--you need to know if 80% of your portfolio expires in 2 months and a solution is needed for that specific problem--that won't be obvious if all the money is mixed together.  You can, however, keep a workbook where each tab is dedicated to a single project, and then a face page summarizes the data for the portfolio. Formulas like XLOOKUP are helpful for this.  That is what most portfolio managers do.  They screen for risk and develop a dashboard that highlights risk to the PI across all the projects.
Goals of the Report
First, write out the goals of your reporting system.  Do you need to know where people are spending time?  Does that need to be tracked to an effort certification cycle (monthly, quarterly, annual)?  Do you need to know acknowledgment text for publications based on where their funding is?  Is there a certain materials and supplies (M&S) budget that you allocate per FTE, and does that vary by position type (postdoc rate vs. grad student rate)?  Do you keep track of appointment dates so that you can let folks know when they need to make arrangements for the purposes of making new arrangements for visas?  Do you need to come up with a spending rate per month for each funding source in order to spend on time?  Are no-cost extensions allowed (NCEs)?  Can you spend early (pre-award spending)?  Are there variances in indirect cost (IDC)/facilities and administration (F&A)/administrative fee rates?  Are any cost categories not allowed on your funding?  Do you have effort commitments you need to meet?
What is this report going to solve for you?
Generating the Insights
The second step is to figure out how to get the data that will generate the conclusions.  What do you have access to?  You should be able to talk to research administrators or folks in the finance department to find the necessary data.  Most places have a data warehouse.  If you are not allowed to directly pull data, find who can pull the data for you, and then you need to learn how to use the data to output a visual or KPI (key performance indicator).  As an example, one of the major challenges is the idea of a "burn rate".  The main problem with a burn rate is that it may go up quickly when you buy a single piece of equipment, or you move 6 people suddenly onto a grant -- that is not representative of sustained spend.  DOD famously has a post-award template with a line chart that responds to an area where you type in total award ceiling by month, total spending, and total projected spending.  The three lines create an image for you to see when you will eventually spend to the total amount of the award.  This is called a "spending plan".  DOD is trying to figure out when they will have to send you more money because they don't send it all upfront like NSF or NIH.
Data Shaping and Data Cleaning
If you are trying to do this on a regular basis, it is a lot of work.  My folks regularly spend about 10+ hours on a monthly portfolio analysis depending on portfolio size. If you are serious about learning dashboarding, I recommend a course from Leila Gharani or Chris Dutton.  They are both on LinkedIn Learning and also have their own companies.  One feature of Excel that they teach is Power Query.  It's an incredible "hidden" part of Excel that automates the data cleaning/shaping and is "low code".  Once you set up your system, you just replace the data file every month and hit the refresh button.  This is easier for people to learn than Python, and no additional software needs to be installed.  To my knowledge, there is no Google Sheets equivalent.
Generating Ideas for Templates
This will maybe be a surprise, but I recommend asking this question to ChatGPT/Claude.  I use AI a lot in my work as a thought partner.  In this case, you can ask it to generate example reports.  As you are the end consumer, decide if it's helpful or not, and then continue with my process above to find the data to generate/fill out the report. I don't outsource all of my work to an AI, but I get good ideas from the AI and implement them.  I also make nice buttons with macros attached.  I ask the AI to write the macros for me, and then I implement those.  An example would be to open a file picker so that I can select the file with the transaction data.  I use that file path in a query that I write using Power Query -- all automated.  Again, start with a basic idea, and build over time as your needs grow.  My folks do this full time, and it takes them a few years to get the hang of this work--the industry is hard and the regulations and needs change every day.
Other Considerations
In the end, the process is iterative.  When it comes to the goals and what you should include, you respond to the world in front of you.  When I started, I didn't know what to track either.  PIs wanted balances, so I did that. Then I learned they spent money that didn't hit the ledger for months -- the vendors didn't pay the POs quickly.  So then I added a column for commitments/encumbrances.  Later I learned that some sponsors don't send income quickly, and I then added a mechanism to track that to make sure we get our money.  I am sorry to say, that in some ways you have to get burned to learn what is important.  If you know the terms and conditions for your funding, write your reporting to make sure you will never violate the terms--that's the most important thing to track.  Spend on time; spend ethically; ensure the sponsor actually cuts the check and you receive the funds; make sure your people are paid and reappointed, and that you don't run out of supply money.  Always apply for funding 2 years before you run out of money.  In order to avoid a funding cliff, you need to plan a year where you don't get any new awards.
Finally, all of this work is a form of project management.  If you are ever interested in ARPA projects, those require PIs to display the highest forms of project management, and it comes as a huge surprise to most people.  You may find it helpful to take a class on project management to learn about risk management, resource management and distribution, etc.  I also recommend asking a finance person to help you learn things.  I have known some PIs who dig in and want to learn the math--learn the rules.  Regardless of lab size, these are always my most successful PIs--they know how everything works and they use that knowledge every day.  While not every administrator wants to train PIs, in general, it's much easier to work with someone who wants to understand things than with those who relegate all of the management to the administrative team.  Be curious and ask questions.  If you are able to learn the finance and risk management part of portfolio management, you'll be able to take on more of the portfolio management yourself.  This will strengthen your ability to make executive decisions and lower your portfolio risk.

Thank you; this was incredibly helpful! We found a way to use the new Google Tables features to keep funds separate but provide Gantt and burndown charts by project and person.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

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text:
Advisor-student meeting patterns in very high-end theoretical research
This is related to my previous question: “What is the optimal number of times one should meet one's PhD. advisor?”

I want to know of specific details of advisor-student meetings, frequencies, patterns in very high-end theoretical subjects like say algebraic geometry or string theory. Like if anyone knows of accounts of how it goes for say students of Vafa or Witten or Nima or Seiberg or Xi Yin or Kiran Kedlaya or Mattihas Zaldarriagga or Bjorn Poonen and such.
In such subjects how does one keep oneself motivated since publications aren't so regular probably and progress is possibly very "slow"?

I mean, in such subjects how does one measure progress on a daily/weekly basis to understand if things are going well? (once the instant gratification of homework scores are removed, in full time research mode how is progress measured on weekly scales?)

To what extent is work in these areas driven by the reading - contemplation - discussion cycle that seems to be common in the theory driven humanities?

Tough to say.  I intersect with CS/Engr/Psyc, but only a little with pure math/probability theory.  All of my fields I touch tend to do quite a bit of meetings to hash out big ideas, theory, or implementation details (e.g., weekly or biweekly at least).  I didn't see the read-contemplate phase as being distinct: you'd read as you went along and shared as was relevant or felt people should be informed.  More like a read-discuss-contemplate cycle.

I'm also not sure how "slow" between publications matters.  Engineering can be VERY slow between pubs sometimes (imagine having to prove it, then build it, then test it).  The issue is the measurement of progress.  Proofs are like trying to move a Rubics cube from one state to another, in my opinion.  You don't know for sure if there's a way to transform it into the new state until you show it.  A set of transformations that might seem to be leading there might run into a dead end (no way to justify a certain leap).  Design is often much simpler, as it's modular so you see forward progress.

Once the instant gratification of homework scores are removed, in full time research mode how is progress measured on weekly scales?

There are three ways to make progress.

The big picture: identifying problems to work on, conjectures and consequences, outlining potential proof techniques.
The little picture: examples, computations, completing the proofs of individual lemmas.
Background reading/study: figuring out what you need to know and learning it.

In any given week it's reasonable to expect some progress on at least one of these.  It might not be dramatic or important progress, but at least you can work out some more details for a key example or read another chapter in a book you need to get through.  You can also refine your ideas, for example by identifying obstacles or additional ideas for a proof outline.  This sort of progress is on a much smaller scale than a research paper, but it lets you measure your progress and ensure your research is on track.
It might occasionally happen early in grad school that you spend a week feeling bewildered and completely unsure of what to do, but at that point your advisor should intervene and help you find something productive.

I want to know of specific details of advisor-student meetings, frequencies, patterns in very high-end theoretical subjects like say algebraic geometry or string theory.

I don't think this would be as illuminating you as hope.  There's not a lot to learn from these patterns, and what you do learn could even be misleading: one advisor's approach might be a poor fit for another advisor, and a famous researcher may or may not be a wonderful advisor.
However, if you are looking for examples, Kiran Kedlaya and Ravi Vakil have descriptions on the web of their advising styles.  (As one would expect, they differ in some respects, for example on meeting schedules.)  Some of the details are probably relevant only if you are considering them as possible advisors, but both pages contain some excellent advice that is more broadly applicable.

+1 for the links to Kedlaya's and Vakil's descriptions of their advising styles -- very informative!

It might occasionally happen early in grad school that you spend a week feeling bewildered and completely unsure of what to do — The phrase "early in grad school" is redundant here.  If you're lucky, you'll have these confused weeks throughout your entire career.

@JeffE: I guess I meant "completely unsure of what to do" in the sense of "unable to figure out anything to try".  I agree that every research career will be full of confused weeks, but once one has some experience there are always things to try.  (They might not help, but at the very least you can try generic strategies like "try computing another example and looking for patterns" or "look for a simpler, related question to work on first".)

@AnonymousMathematician: Yep, I know what you meant.  I stand by my comment.  If you're lucky, you'll periodically run into problems where none of the obvious strategies provide any insight.  (I'm assuming here that "give up" is not one of the obvious strategies.)

@AnonymousMathematician But none of these 3 points you mentioned necessarily lead to publications and at the end of the day its the only thing about one's PhD that is ever going to count! One needs kind of 10 good publications in PhD these days to survive well in academia. (and that has to happen in kind of 3 years) What one did in a week is really not worth anything unless that converts into something publishable! I am not sure how to keep oneself motivated during the PhD - depressions of career uncertainties set in whenever something "fails".

@user6818: I think you are more worried than you need to be.  You definitely don't need to write 10 papers in grad school to get a good job in algebraic geometry (the number of people who can do this each year is tiny).  One good paper is enough to get a research postdoc, and if you can write several good papers you are doing great.  You are right that the three things I mention aren't automatically sufficient to write papers, but they are necessary, so there's no way to avoid this.  It's important to keep writing papers in the back of your mind, but not to let it take over your life.

The issue is that to have a strong research career, you need to do things that aren't focused on short-term paper writing.  You need to explore ideas that might fail.  You need to learn things just because they're interesting (if you haven't already studied something before you need it, you may not even recognize where it could be applied).  You need to play with ideas and see where they lead you.  You're right that it's important to write papers, but if you do only things that contribute directly to writing papers now, it will limit what you can achieve in your research.

So it's important to be productive, but productivity is broader than just what contributes to a paper this month or even this year.

@Anonymous Mathematician (1) I don't think my 10 papers in PhD. is a random number - look at the PhD. track record of the post-docs in the major US universities in areas like condensed matter theory, cosmology or string theory (2) This reading widely is a very uncommon advice - since the best PhD students (who are now post-docs in the major US universities) I have known would serious warn AGAINST it - all of them claim that the only way to succeed professionally is to focus only at the paper one is working on at hand

they say that they never studied any text book which is even slightly outside their project.

@user6818: I don't know what sort of publication track record is typical in physics grad school (and it probably differs a lot from mathematics), but ten publications is an extremely large number for an algebraic geometry grad student.  As for reading, you certainly don't want to do so much of this that it distracts you from research, but never learning anything not directly related to a current project seems too far in the opposite direction.  In any case, I'd recommend doing what your advisor and other successful people in your research area advise.

@user6818: "the best PhD students"  I think the end of that phrase is the operative word.  Being the best PhD student does not reflect being the best researcher long-term.  Ultimately, successful people on the tenure track run labs and manage people.  This involves having to keep an eye on many pots, not just focusing on one paper.  Admittedly, you want to build a specialty "niche" that you're known for (e.g., "World's leading expert in the dynamics of cookie dough").  But someday, that cookie might crumble (e.g., funding dries up) and you'll be glad to have some breadth.

@Namey: Again, field dependent.  In pure mathematics, there's no such thing as a "lab" to run, and the maximum extent to which one "manages people" is usually advising grad students - and at many places, one does not take on grad students until after tenure.

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text:
What are typical rules for parallel academic appointments?
Many universities have visiting (also sometimes termed adjunct outside the US) faculty positions for non-salaried academics associated with a department. My question concerns the cases where faculty members, rather than an adjunct appointment, hold parallel appointments at two different universities, perhaps as a part-time appointment.  What types of rules are there regarding e.g. attendance, affiliation in publications, teaching, PhD supervision, committee membership, access to funding, lecturing responsibilities, and salary for such cases? I'd appreciate pointers to corresponding policies or regulations.

This probably varies too widely across countries, fields and even individual institutions for us to be able to give you a single answer.

I'm not looking for a definitive answer, but examples of rules and best practices that could be used to draw up relevant regulations.

I think that, generally, this should be forbidden unless individual negotiations can demonstrate a benefit to everyone. I can see joint appointments for research as being valuable, especially when grant funded. I think you want to come up with "principles" not regulations to guide such negotiations. You might want to form a faculty committee to vet such requests when they occur.

The votes to close have me concerned. The question seems to be about proper academic policies affecting faculty. That seems to me to be a proper topic here.

You need to tell both institutions - they will decide within their needs

Both institutions know, and there is a legal framework specifically allowing this. What I am trying to see is the scope for drafting more specific policies.

I wonder who would be the issuer of such rules. Individual universities? I then wonder what the point would be in referring to the rules of other universities except for the two ones you're negotiating with, as such rules would express the needs and values of that particular university.

This question is too broad.  If you are writing a policy, you should ask a narrow question about what should or should not be in the policy.

@DiomidisSpinellis, as long as this is rare, just handle it on a case-by-case basis. Only if it becomes common, does it matter to have regulations in place. By them there will be ample experience on what did work and not to fall back on.

@lighthousekeeper Rules of other universities could offer guidance and best practices for setting policies.

@vonbrand Handling such issues on a case-by-case basis without clear rules and policies can leave the handling open to challenges.

@DiomidisSpinellis The point is that what's "best" will to one hundred percent depend on the involved parties.

I think in practical terms this is mostly decided by the first employer. So you already have an appointment at one university and think about starting a second one at another university. Then you need to check your work contract with the first university and ask them what kind of side job they permit. That is the relevant authority and in general whatever they permit is fine (you can and should negotiate with them).
Apart from that you also have to obey general labour laws, so for example in most european countries you couldn't have 2 full time contracts because total weekly work time is limited. AFAIK the US doesn't have this restriction but there might be others that are relevant.

What types of rules are there regarding e.g. attendance,

Contractual: Attendance requirements are defined by employment contracts.

affiliation in publications,

List both, since you are employed by both. Perhaps order affiliations by who paid for the work, or include an acknowledgement to the institute that funded the research.

teaching,

Contractual

PhD supervision,

Your institutes will likely have expectations, either explicit or implicit. You'll have your own expectations.

committee membership,

Likely institutional expectations, e.g., you must serve on at least one committee.

access to funding,

Apply using the most favourable institution

lecturing responsibilities,

I don't understand this point.

and salary

You can negotiate with each institute.

I'd appreciate pointers to corresponding policies or regulations.

Institution specific.

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Sharing assignments with a potential employer
I'm currently a first year information technology student majoring in software development. I applied for an internship at a software development company. I got an interview and now they're asking to see some assignments that I've done at school to prove my experience. Is it usual that a school (in Canada) own all the rights to assignments that I've done? The assignments contain some code by the school and the rest is mine. I'm wondering if there's a route I can take so that I can share these assignments with this potential employer without violating my school's policies? Or is there something else I can tell this employer?
(Please note that I'm asking this question on behalf of a friend)

"without violating my school's policies"?  The first step would be to find and read your school's policies.  Actually, without knowing your school and its policies, I don't see how anyone else on this site can answer this definitively.  My guess is that you will find out that this is no problem.

I don't think you need to worry about school policy or copyright here: you're privately sharing these documents in order to allow somebody to better evaluate you, not attempting to transfer ownership or widely distributing them.
As such, the question of who owns the code is irrelevant: you are not claiming ownership, you are claiming that the portions you wrote provide evidence of your skills as a programmer.  The company should be expected to treat it as a confidential part of your application process, just like all of the other personal information that you have given them.  If they do not, any possible fault and liability lies with them, not with you.

+1 for the company should be expected to treat it as a confidential part of your application process

You will not have any problems with this arrangement. Nobody is going to come after you for some code snippits from college assignments unless you are publishing a textbook. Look into Copyright Fair Use, which this clearly falls under.

Perhaps you can justify your assertions?

You are being intentionally pedantic. Explain to me how the publishers of those textbooks are actually going to catch wind that he shared some code snippets during a job interview and how anyone would then care. Show me any legal case where this has ever happened. Logical possibilities based on legal paranoia aren't legitimate fears.

I have no intention to be pedantic: it's just that on this site there is generally a tradition of writing answers that explain the person's reasoning in an accessible manner.  Your answer also assumes the concern is about getting in legal trouble with a textbook publisher, when the original post seems more concerned about ethics and material created by the school.

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How to stay motivated in a group with low motivation?
After joining a research group, I discovered my colleagues are always lowly motivated. They play card games and online games, and they listen to songs with the loudspeakers on all the time. They never discuss research-related things, and the only time they open a spreadsheet is to calculate some kinds of points in online games. This all happens in office hours in the laboratory.
I expected my colleagues would be happy to discuss with me about research problems, but it turns out nobody is willing to do this except my supervisor and some of the post-docs. They just focus on their entertainment. I do not know why they want to do a PhD; maybe they just want to delay their entry into the job market. However I really want to be trained as a good researcher and I am serious about my PhD. I cannot stay motivated all the time because their attitudes seem to gradually be affecting me, and the atmosphere is simply full of laziness. I can notice myself sometimes lowering my standard in research work now.
My supervisor seems ok with it and does not get angry at their slow and boring progress. My research interest matches quite well with my supervisor's, and I do not want to change my supervisor just because of those lowly motivated students. How can I still be motivated in a lowly motivated environment?

Related: How to deal with the frustration of doing PhD at a low-ranked university

Build up an online environment. If you consider the whole world as your research group, surely you will find some motivated colleagues with research interests matching your own to associate with.

"the only time they open a spreadsheet is to calculate some kinds of points in online games" Well, you wouldn't want them using a spreadsheet for serious analysis would you?

Also note you're just contributing to the #1 procrastination excuse there currently exists on the net ;-)

@dmckee Spreadsheet can also be powerful and useful if use correctly.

They are also fragile, difficult to document, hard to debug and (without invoking macros) not Turing complete. Like any other source code, you want your analysis code to be human readable and spreadsheets are rotten at that. They pale in comparison to R or ROOT or Matlab or any other serious analysis language in all those categories. I don't know what field you are in, but if you have any choice in the matter learn to use a better analysis environment. Seriously.

Let your advisor know their lack of motivation is negatively affecting you. If nothing improves, then you have to do whatever it takes to put yourself in a successful environment (adapt or change environments). Hopefully your advisor isn't willing to trade a productive student for one watching youtube all day.

try to visit other universities and other labs and spent as much time there as possible

Let' start with the obvious:

They play card games, computer online games

It is none of your business what they do on their PC, if they do not scream, yell or make noise. But even then, noise is also encountered on all working environments (even 2 students arguing about their research is enough to make another student not able to work). So, bring your headphones and shut them out.

...listen to songs with the loudspeakers on all the time.

If that bothers you, you must ask them (ask not tell) to stop. You have the right to not wanting to listen to their music. If they lower the volume, this is also a logical compromise. Again, bringing your headphones might help.

I do not know why they want to do a PhD, maybe they just want to delay
  the time joining the job market.

Probably they do not either. Still, it is not your business nor you are their supervisor to judge their performance. You must only be interested in YOUR performance.

My supervisor seems ok with it and does not get angry at their slow
  and boring progress.

Again, it is not your business what your supervisor does with his other students. Focus on yourself and your research problems.
You should realize that in any job (in or outside academia), not all people show the same dedication or have the same motivation towards their work. Some are slow unintentionally, others slack and many will just do the bare minimum not to get fired. Of course there are also many other who do their best, in order to be the  best at what they do. It is always a matter of choice (and abilities) and people have different degrees of motivation and dedication. Again, you should not let others dictate what you do with your life or PHD and always imitate / get influenced by those that you look up to (hard working people) and not people you do not want to be like (like your PHD co-students). So, it is not clear why those playing games on their PC, influence how you do your work. On the other hand, if your working environment is notoriously bad, consider to:

Work some days per week from home if that is possible with your research and your supervisor is OK with that.
Come at office hours, where it is less crowded (e.g. earlier than other students)
Is there another shared office which you can use? Ask your supervisor about that but do it in a discrete way not to alienate yourself with the other co-students on a personal level.

Good luck

When you get to a place and everybody is shouting you have to shout, if everybody is whispering you will whisper not to stand out of the crowd. Low motivation is contagious and people may not notice how deep it's rotting them until they change to a different environment, where everything may seem from a different universe. Minding your own business may be a terrible mistake leading to a slippery slope of slack. Being self-satisfied is extremely easy in a sloppy environment and when the perception doesn't adjust to reality we have a bubble that can burst very painfully.

For the shouts I agree, because they hinder your performance - attention span. But you cannot expect motivation from outside. A PHD is quite a lonely journey for many people (what if you are the only PHD student of a supervisor?) and counting on others for inspiration sometimes it is not feasible

Inspiration and motivation is good, but not necessary or guaranteed. Analogously, demotivation is bad, but not necessary or unavoidable.

I agree with Alexandros.  If this is giving the OP so much trouble, it is reasonable to question "I do not know why the OP wants to do a PhD, maybe the OP just wants to delay the time joining the job market."

@emory I am not trying to judge and criticise other's intentions for a PhD, everybody has a story, but their behavior surely give some hints on it.

@bingung I am saying if you "can not stay motivated all the time" then perhaps you are not motivated.  Personally, I feel it (working on a PhD) is a waste of time and energy.  Don't you have better things to do with your life?

I disagree about "minding your own business" as a solution. I very much relate to OP's question, and I generally am very motivated about my research and academic career. However, as Trylks pointed out, I find it that a person achieves higher goals if they have people to look up to and to take a cue from (especially in the beginning of one's career). I remember a quote along the lines of "If you're the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room." (substitute "smart" with the relevant quality here).

I have mixed feelings about this answer - yes, on a philosophical level everybody is responsible for their own PhD, but practically speaking it just is much more difficult to remain motivated when everybody else slacks off (and is getting away with it).

Flee or fight.
Flee is obvious. Fight means focusing on your goals and finding something rewarding.
I've experienced low motivation, I am at this precise moment suffering high temperatures and lots of noise, the work environment is very important and it will have a toll in your productivity (and your career) if it is not the right one.
The point is, either you leave to a better place (if possible, that depends on several factors) or if you decide to stay then you need to compensate from that toxic environment.
I read some time ago a blog post titled hack your motivation, which could be useful. In general what I find most motivating is keeping track of my progress, on a daily or even hourly basis, either writing a section of a paper, running/conducting an experiment, programming some class or complex method, or anything else. Anything that gives you the feeling of making some progress.
That's probably why your colleagues are wasting their time, games provide some fictional reward, some fictional and imaginary sense of achievement, games are like porn in that sense (no real sex, only fiction and imagination). What I mean, in short is: gamify your research. You all will be playing games, but you will be playing the right one (assuming you do the gamification right).
This site is a good example of gamification. I have 2093 points already! I would feel less sick with some A/C, though...
What you have to ponder are your chances in this flee or fight scenario. I can't tell you whether you will have more success running to a less toxic environment or reducing the toxicity for you. It depends on the opportunities that you can find to flee and how strong is your motivation and gamification to fight toxicity.
That's your decision and yours alone.

+1 for the game part! Especially "You all will be playing games, but you will be playing the right one". That's one approach I'm attempting when feeling unmotivated. (Also, "hear, hear!" about the A/C.)