Ignacio Pita Vaca is an ASCEND Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Climate Risk Lab. His current research focuses on the intersection of climate change and health. It centers on developing a living evidence synthesis map to identify knowledge gaps in the impacts of climate change on health in cities and human settlements.

During his Ph.D. he focused on the Mediterranean fisheries' risk and vulnerability to climate change at the UMR Marbec (MARBEC : MARine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation) in Montpellier. Using the Climate Risk Assessment framework (IPCC 2014), he focused on better understanding fisheries' risk to climate change through their catch, but also socio-economic parameters that can mitigate impacts and help their adaptive capacity. With participatory approaches and satellite imagery, he put into perspective large scale results with small scale realities, not only regarding climate change impacts, but also other short term crises