Janice Gunther Martin, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History at the University of Notre Dame, presents on her research project, "Unburdening the Beasts: Equine Medicine and Expert Healers in Early Modern Castile," to an interdisciplinary group of scholars, artists, and scientists comprised of fellows, guest faculty and students. She is interested in how human beings have engaged with and defined the natural world and their place within it, especially with respect to science and medicine during the early modern period. In her dissertation project she examines the theory and practice of equine medicine in early modern Castile in order to analyze human-equine relationships during this period. In particular, she researches the ways technologies conditioned these relationships, how people defined animal maltreatment, and the risks people took to cure their horses, mules, and donkeys.
 

Ms. Martin has presented her research at the Renaissance Society of America, Sixteenth Century Society, the International Congress on Medieval Studies, and the University of Oxford. She has participated in working groups and workshops not only at the University of Notre Dame, but also at the Newberry Library in Chicago. In addition, she has served as the editorial assistant for the journal Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte and assistant in the executive office of the History of Science Society.
 

Ms. Martin was a Presidential Fellow at the University of Notre Dame from 2012 to 2017. Her research has received support from the Nanovic Institute for European Studies and the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, along with the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport. Her professional affiliations include the American Historical Association and the Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies.