This paper describes recent research activities and results in the area of photonic switching carried out within the Virtual Department on Switching (VDS) of the European e-Photon/ ONe Network of Excellence. Contributions from outstanding European research groups in this field are collected to offer a platform for future research in optical switching. The paper contains the main topics related to network scenarios, switch architectures and experiments, with an effort to investigate synergies and challenging opportunities for collaboration and integration of research expertise in the field.