The Adaptation of a Design Research-Action for Social Innovation Within the Criminal Justice System in Times of Pandemic Caio Miolo de Oliveira 1(B ) , Rita Assoreira Almendra 1 , Tiago Leitão 2 , and Ana Rita Alves Lourenço 2 1 Lisbon School of Architecture, CIAUD, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal 2 Aproximar – Cooperativa de Solidariedade Social, Amadora, Portugal Abstract. Action research is identified as an intensely participatory methodol- ogy, as it is associated with an action or problem solving, so that researchers and participants work together to develop a process of change. When using it to develop social innovation processes through Design, it becomes even more partic- ipatory, as in this context it is necessary to empower the participants so that they themselves can solve problems or generate new opportunities. In this context, the article reveals how an investigation carried out through action research during the COVID19 pandemic had to be adapted. This investigation intends to favour the social reintegration of (ex) offenders through training courses for the different actors related to the problem. Although the participants are not adapted to code- sign works and in a completely online way, the training sessions were evaluated as positive and ended up corroborating their replication. Keywords: Action-research · Design for social innovation · Criminal Justice System 1 Introduction The action research methodology is recognized by its authors for being intensely par- ticipatory, as it is associated with an action or problem solving, so that researchers and participants work together to develop a process of change and thereby understand the entire process and not just its outcome. In this process, the actors identify problems, implement and evaluate the results achieved [1]. In order to develop an action research, qualitative methods are used that allow a deeper understanding of the topic, since they employ a more open approach, in a way that allows spontaneous dialogues with the participants [2]. When using the action research methodology to develop processes of social inno- vation through Design, the participatory dimension is even more important because the designer needs to enable the participation of the actors involved with the problem so that they themselves can solve problems or generate new opportunities. From this interaction comes the figure of a researcher designer who interacts with the community or organiza- tion, helping to explain skills, understanding needs and desires, designing participatory © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 E. Markopoulos et al. (Eds.): AHFE 2021, LNNS 276, pp. 588–595, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80094-9_71