diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d267d41a4..356fc5099 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -491,13 +491,13 @@
     <dependency>
         <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
         <artifactId>testcontainers</artifactId>
-        <version>1.20.6</version>
+        <version>1.21.4</version>
         <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
         <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
         <artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId>
-        <version>1.20.6</version>
+        <version>1.21.4</version>
         <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
@@ -566,7 +566,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.flywaydb</groupId>
       <artifactId>flyway-core</artifactId>
-    </dependency> 
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.flywaydb</groupId>
       <artifactId>flyway-mysql</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/wise/portal/junit/AbstractTransactionalDbTests.java b/src/test/java/org/wise/portal/junit/AbstractTransactionalDbTests.java
index 8b8781ff0..1b174d3a4 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/wise/portal/junit/AbstractTransactionalDbTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/wise/portal/junit/AbstractTransactionalDbTests.java
@@ -103,8 +103,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractTransactionalDbTests
   private Long nextAvailableProjectId = 1L;
 
   @Container
-  static GenericContainer redisContainer = new GenericContainer(
-      DockerImageName.parse("redis:7-alpine")).withExposedPorts(6379);
+  static final GenericContainer redisContainer = new GenericContainer(
+      DockerImageName.parse("redis:8-alpine")).withExposedPorts(6379);
+
+  static {
+    redisContainer.start();
+  }
 
   @DynamicPropertySource
   static void redisProperties(DynamicPropertyRegistry registry) {