Professor Krishnappa’s teaching and research revolve around the practice of reading as an art of sensemaking. His work brings together philosophy and literature as sites of disorientation, attention, and ethical apprenticeship, with a particular focus on the writings of Wittgenstein, Roland Barthes, Karl Weick, Tolstoy, and other figures who treat thought as inseparable from form. His interests extend across Ancient Greek philosophy, Continental thought, philosophical and literary reading, and the role of philosophy within liberal arts education. In both his teaching and writing, he emphasises the formative dimensions of reading and the cultivation of critical and imaginative thinking in conditions of complexity and uncertainty.

As Director of the Centre for Ethics at RV University, he leads initiatives that foster ethical reflection, civic responsibility, and the renewal of the humanities in liberal education. Widely published in major media outlets, he writes on the future of liberal education, the practice of philosophy as a way of life, and the place of reading in contemporary times. He is currently at work on a new book, Reading Otherwise: Pedagogies of Sensemaking in Fiction and Life, which argues for the formative power of literature to train us for uncertainty, complexity, and the unfinished.

Before joining RV University, Krishnappa was a Doctoral Research Fellow in Philosophy and Literature at O.P. Jindal Global University (2015–21). His earlier academic training includes a PGDip in Strategy and Innovation from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (2013–15), an MSc in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras, as well as certificates in Business Management (IIM Ahmedabad, 2013–14) and Peace Research (University of Oslo, 2008).

Krishnappa has more than three decades of professional experience, with over two decades dedicated to teaching and research. He previously served as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (2004–2013), where he led large international and interdisciplinary projects. Prior to his academic career, he served in the Indian Air Force from 1986 to 2004, retiring with the rank of Group Captain (Select Grade).

Across his trajectory—from the cockpit to the seminar room—Krishnappa’s enduring concern has been with how human beings make sense of complexity. His current work, situated at the intersection of philosophy, literature, and pedagogy, explores how reading otherwise can serve as a discipline of attention, ethical imagination, and sensemaking in uncertain times.

"Whatever it is...it could have been otherwise too"

• Current areas of research and teaching
  Professor Krishnappa’s work explores reading as sensemaking and sensemaking as reading, treating them as formative practices for living and acting in an uncertain world. For him, literature and philosophy are not simply objects of study but exercises in attention, ethical imagination, and interpretive flexibility—the very qualities that shape professional practice in complex environments. In his teaching and research, he invites students to see reading otherwise as a pedagogy of sensemaking, one that prepares them for judgement, responsibility, and creativity in their personal, professional, and civic lives. Drawing on Wittgenstein, Tolstoy, and Russian literature, alongside Continental philosophy, ethics, and critical epistemology, Professor Krishnappa illuminates how texts train us to make sense. His interests also extend to the philosophy of organising, scenario method, crisis leadership, and interdisciplinary approaches to complexity, where he shows how reading as sensemaking can serve as preparation for practice in uncertain times.

• Prestigious educational / leadership programmes by organisations including Peace Research International Oslo (PRIO) and the United States Department of State

• Government of the United Kingdom as a Young Leader for significant contributions made to chosen field in 2013