diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 25fd966970490ad8260b82ea35f137e0407562ba..ee89c5c98b5c7cf75375b73fb841156b93c5ad64 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ tests-and-coverage:
       - $ENABLE_NIGHTLY_BUILDS
   image: i10git.cs.fau.de:5005/pycodegen/pycodegen/full
   script:
+    - env
     - pip list
     - export NUM_CORES=$(nproc --all)
     - mkdir -p ~/.config/matplotlib
@@ -73,6 +74,7 @@ ubuntu:
       - $ENABLE_NIGHTLY_BUILDS
   image: i10git.cs.fau.de:5005/pycodegen/pycodegen/ubuntu
   script:
+    - pip install --upgrade pytest
     - mkdir -p ~/.config/matplotlib
     - echo "backend:template" > ~/.config/matplotlib/matplotlibrc
     - sed -i 's/--doctest-modules //g' pytest.ini
diff --git a/conftest.py b/conftest.py
index 980df61cc202dee70db4f3e8b7788786d473fd88..eba25a7424432f630e75f642fcc7e755304ea08e 100644
--- a/conftest.py
+++ b/conftest.py
@@ -151,7 +151,8 @@ class IPyNbFile(pytest.File):
             warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", "IPython.core.inputsplitter is deprecated")
             notebook = nbformat.read(notebook_contents, 4)
             code, _ = exporter.from_notebook_node(notebook)
-        yield IPyNbTest.from_parent(name=self.name, parent=self, code=code)
+        yield IPyNbTest(self.name, self, code)
+        # pytest v 2.4>: yield IPyNbTest.from_parent(name=self.name, parent=self, code=code)
 
     def teardown(self):
         pass
@@ -160,4 +161,5 @@ class IPyNbFile(pytest.File):
 def pytest_collect_file(path, parent):
     glob_exprs = ["*demo*.ipynb", "*tutorial*.ipynb", "test_*.ipynb"]
     if any(path.fnmatch(g) for g in glob_exprs):
-        return IPyNbFile.from_parent(fspath=path, parent=parent)
+        return IPyNbFile(path, parent)
+        # pytest v 2.4 >: return IPyNbFile.from_parent(fspath=path, parent=parent)
diff --git a/pystencils/runhelper/db.py b/pystencils/runhelper/db.py
index bc3aa0a9ec799d57165bb797a059dc78f85f08e3..21b75c4ba91a53588db8637651bfda090c4044e6 100644
--- a/pystencils/runhelper/db.py
+++ b/pystencils/runhelper/db.py
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ class Database:
         Returns:
             pandas data frame
         """
-        from pandas.io.json import json_normalize
+        from pandas import json_normalize
 
         query_result = self.filter_params(parameter_query)
         attributes = [e.attributes for e in query_result]