Dr Brandon Reece Taylorian (born July 1, 1998), also known under the mononym Cometan, is a Research Fellow at the University of Lancashire in Preston, UK, and Heritage Project Manager at Age UK Lancashire. Brandon completed his PhD in 2025 specialising in freedom of religion or belief, especially the barriers caused by state recognition and registration issues. One of Brandon's core research interests are social issues (e.g. education access, domestic violence, immigration) in Britain in the Victorian, Edwardian and Interwar periods. In religious studies, Brandon specialises in the early histories of Quakerism and Mormonism in England, and on…
Dr Brandon Reece Taylorian (born July 1, 1998), also known under the mononym Cometan, is a Research Fellow at the University of Lancashire in Preston, UK, and Heritage Project Manager at Age UK Lancashire. Brandon completed his PhD in 2025 specialising in freedom of religion or belief, especially the barriers caused by state recognition and registration issues. One of Brandon's core research interests are social issues (e.g. education access, domestic violence, immigration) in Britain in the Victorian, Edwardian and Interwar periods. In religious studies, Brandon specialises in the early histories of Quakerism and Mormonism in England, and on the history of traditionalist Catholicism in Britain, especially the Society of Saint Pius X. Brandon's research in these fields has been published in highly regarded peer-reviewed journals, including History of Education, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Nottingham Law Journal and the Journal of Mormon History. In his role at the University of Lancashire, Brandon recently worked under Professor Candice Satchwell for a project commissioned by the Department for Transport aiming to understand the barriers to rail travel and careers that marginalised communities face. In 2026, Brandon will lead the project Heritage and History in Practice, which will involve family historians being taught best practice in how to digitise, interpret and present their heritage materials through a co-produced exhibition, podcast series and range of research outputs. Brandon has taught at the University of Lancashire and Lancaster University, and has presented his research at higher education institutions in the United Kingdom and internationally, including at Bordeaux Montaigne University in 2024 and Brigham Young University in 2025. Brandon was selected by the board of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies in 2024 to participate in the prestigious annual Young Scholars Fellowship on Religion and the Rule of Law hosted at Oxford and in 2025, Brandon was invited back by the organisers to teach registration issues impacting religious freedom conditions on the programme.
