A former journalist, Sanjoy Hazarika is considered an authority on the North East Region, on which he has written five books. He is currently working on a travelogue on the Brahmaputra river. He founded the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research which runs a fleet of boat clinics on the Brahmaputra. He has been international director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), founded the Centre for North East Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, and was a member of several government panels on the NER. Hazarika works on issues relating to rivers, ecosystems and communities, and climate uncertainty.