diff --git a/.flake8 b/.flake8
index 0c1dae02..8eefa671 100644
--- a/.flake8
+++ b/.flake8
@@ -9,5 +9,6 @@ import-order-style = google
 per-file-ignores =
   test/*: S101
   util/icat_db_generator.py: S311
+  datagateway_api/wsgi.py:E402,F401
   datagateway_api/common/database/models.py: N815,A003
 enable-extensions=G
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-build.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-build.yml
index 356c523d..b90d9cce 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-build.yml
@@ -57,17 +57,15 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Checkout DataGateway API
       uses: actions/checkout@v2
-      with:
-        path: datagateway-api
 
     # Prep for using the API for tests
     - name: Create log file
       run: touch logs.log
     - name: Configure log file location
       run: echo "`jq -r --arg REPO_DIR "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/logs.log" \
-        '.log_location=$REPO_DIR' datagateway-api/config.json.example`" > datagateway-api/config.json.example
+        '.log_location=$REPO_DIR' datagateway_api/config.json.example`" > datagateway_api/config.json.example
     - name: Create config.json
-      run: cp datagateway-api/config.json.example datagateway-api/config.json
+      run: cp datagateway_api/config.json.example datagateway_api/config.json
 
     # Install Nox, Poetry and API's dependencies
     - name: Install Nox
@@ -75,20 +73,18 @@ jobs:
     - name: Install Poetry
       run: pip install poetry==1.1.4
     - name: Install dependencies
-      run: cd datagateway-api/ && poetry install
+      run: poetry install
 
     - name: Add dummy data to icatdb
       run: |
-        cd datagateway-api && poetry run python -m util.icat_db_generator -s 4 -y 3
+        poetry run python -m util.icat_db_generator -s 4 -y 3
 
     # Run Nox tests session, saves and uploads a coverage report to codecov
     - name: Run Nox tests session
-      run: nox -s tests -f datagateway-api/noxfile.py -- --cov=datagateway_api --cov-report=xml
+      run: nox -s tests -- --cov=datagateway_api --cov-report=xml
     - name: Upload code coverage report
       if: matrix.python-version == '3.6'
       uses: codecov/codecov-action@v1
-      with:
-        directory: ./datagateway-api
 
   linting:
     runs-on: ubuntu-16.04
@@ -101,8 +97,6 @@ jobs:
         architecture: x64
     - name: Checkout DataGateway API
       uses: actions/checkout@v2
-      with:
-        path: datagateway-api
 
     - name: Install Nox
       run: pip install nox==2020.8.22
@@ -110,7 +104,7 @@ jobs:
       run: pip install poetry==1.1.4
 
     - name: Run Nox lint session
-      run: nox -s lint -f datagateway-api/noxfile.py
+      run: nox -s lint
 
   formatting:
     runs-on: ubuntu-16.04
@@ -123,8 +117,6 @@ jobs:
         architecture: x64
     - name: Checkout DataGateway API
       uses: actions/checkout@v2
-      with:
-        path: datagateway-api
 
     - name: Install Nox
       run: pip install nox==2020.8.22
@@ -132,7 +124,7 @@ jobs:
       run: pip install poetry==1.1.4
 
     - name: Run Nox black session
-      run: nox -s black -f datagateway-api/noxfile.py
+      run: nox -s black
 
   safety:
     runs-on: ubuntu-16.04
@@ -145,8 +137,6 @@ jobs:
         architecture: x64
     - name: Checkout DataGateway API
       uses: actions/checkout@v2
-      with:
-        path: datagateway-api
 
     - name: Install Nox
       run: pip install nox==2020.8.22
@@ -154,4 +144,4 @@ jobs:
       run: pip install poetry==1.1.4
 
     - name: Run Nox safety session
-      run: nox -s safety -f datagateway-api/noxfile.py
+      run: nox -s safety
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2fc4f4a8..db51e24e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -427,8 +427,9 @@ illustrated below:
 ├── .pre-commit-config.yaml
 ├── LICENSE
 ├── README.md
-├── config.json.example
 ├── datagateway_api
+│   ├── config.json.example
+│   ├── wsgi.py
 │   ├── common
 │   │   ├── backend.py
 │   │   ├── backends.py
diff --git a/datagateway_api/common/config.py b/datagateway_api/common/config.py
index 9b5090a4..28e4d8d1 100644
--- a/datagateway_api/common/config.py
+++ b/datagateway_api/common/config.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 
 class Config(object):
-    def __init__(self, path=Path(__file__).parent.parent.parent / "config.json"):
+    def __init__(self, path=Path(__file__).parent.parent / "config.json"):
         self.path = path
         with open(self.path) as target:
             self.config = json.load(target)
diff --git a/datagateway_api/common/database/helpers.py b/datagateway_api/common/database/helpers.py
index 2e74ae37..39e67ce9 100644
--- a/datagateway_api/common/database/helpers.py
+++ b/datagateway_api/common/database/helpers.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 from functools import wraps
 import logging
 
+from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
 from sqlalchemy.orm import aliased
 
 from datagateway_api.common.database.filters import (
@@ -17,7 +18,6 @@
     INVESTIGATIONINSTRUMENT,
     SESSION,
 )
-from datagateway_api.common.database.session_manager import session_manager
 from datagateway_api.common.exceptions import (
     AuthenticationError,
     BadRequestError,
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@
 
 log = logging.getLogger()
 
+db = SQLAlchemy()
+
 
 def requires_session_id(method):
     """
@@ -41,12 +43,11 @@ def requires_session_id(method):
     @wraps(method)
     def wrapper_requires_session(*args, **kwargs):
         log.info(" Authenticating consumer")
-        session = session_manager.get_icat_db_session()
+        session = db.session
         query = session.query(SESSION).filter(SESSION.id == args[1]).first()
         if query is not None:
             log.info(" Closing DB session")
             session.close()
-            session.close()
             log.info(" Consumer authenticated")
             return method(*args, **kwargs)
         else:
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ class Query(ABC):
 
     @abstractmethod
     def __init__(self, table):
-        self.session = session_manager.get_icat_db_session()
+        self.session = db.session
         self.table = table
         self.base_query = self.session.query(table)
 
@@ -86,7 +87,12 @@ def commit_changes(self):
         Commits all changes to the database and closes the session
         """
         log.info(" Committing changes to %s", self.table)
-        self.session.commit()
+        try:
+            self.session.commit()
+        except Exception as e:
+            log.error("Error whilst committing changes to %s, rolling back", self.table)
+            self.session.rollback()
+            raise e
 
 
 class CountQuery(Query):
diff --git a/datagateway_api/common/database/session_manager.py b/datagateway_api/common/database/session_manager.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 5353fd26..00000000
--- a/datagateway_api/common/database/session_manager.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-from sqlalchemy import create_engine
-from sqlalchemy.orm import scoped_session, sessionmaker
-from sqlalchemy.pool import QueuePool
-
-from datagateway_api.common.constants import Constants
-
-engine = create_engine(
-    Constants.DATABASE_URL, poolclass=QueuePool, pool_size=100, max_overflow=0,
-)
-session_factory = sessionmaker(engine)
-
-
-class SessionManager(object):
-    def __init__(self):
-        self.Session = scoped_session(session_factory)
-
-    def get_icat_db_session(self):
-        """
-        Gets a new session in the scoped_session collection
-        :return: A new session
-        """
-
-        return self.Session()
-
-
-session_manager = SessionManager()
diff --git a/config.json.example b/datagateway_api/config.json.example
similarity index 100%
rename from config.json.example
rename to datagateway_api/config.json.example
diff --git a/datagateway_api/src/api_start_utils.py b/datagateway_api/src/api_start_utils.py
index fef5f2fe..c62d4020 100644
--- a/datagateway_api/src/api_start_utils.py
+++ b/datagateway_api/src/api_start_utils.py
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 
 from datagateway_api.common.backends import create_backend
 from datagateway_api.common.config import config
+from datagateway_api.common.constants import Constants
+from datagateway_api.common.database.helpers import db
 from datagateway_api.src.resources.entities.entity_endpoint import (
     get_count_endpoint,
     get_endpoint,
@@ -58,6 +60,17 @@ def create_app_infrastructure(flask_app):
     flask_app.url_map.strict_slashes = False
     api = CustomErrorHandledApi(flask_app)
 
+    try:
+        backend_type = flask_app.config["TEST_BACKEND"]
+        config.set_backend_type(backend_type)
+    except KeyError:
+        backend_type = config.get_backend_type()
+
+    if backend_type == "db":
+        flask_app.config["SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI"] = Constants.DATABASE_URL
+        flask_app.config["SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS"] = False
+        db.init_app(flask_app)
+
     initialise_spec(spec)
 
     return (api, spec)
@@ -147,9 +160,9 @@ def openapi_config(spec):
             for endpoint_name in sorted(entity_data.keys()):
                 entity_data.move_to_end(endpoint_name)
 
-    openapi_spec_path = Path(__file__).parent / "swagger/openapi.yaml"
-    with open(openapi_spec_path, "w") as f:
-        f.write(spec.to_yaml())
+        openapi_spec_path = Path(__file__).parent / "swagger/openapi.yaml"
+        with open(openapi_spec_path, "w") as f:
+            f.write(spec.to_yaml())
 
 
 def create_openapi_endpoint(app, api_spec):
diff --git a/datagateway_api/wsgi.py b/datagateway_api/wsgi.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a31e1f21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/datagateway_api/wsgi.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+import logging
+import sys
+
+logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stderr)
+
+from datagateway_api.src.main import app as application
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index b9d46a1d..e03f1899 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ d = ["aiohttp (>=3.3.2)", "aiohttp-cors"]
 name = "certifi"
 version = "2020.11.8"
 description = "Python package for providing Mozilla's CA Bundle."
-category = "dev"
+category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = "*"
 
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ python-versions = "*"
 name = "chardet"
 version = "3.0.4"
 description = "Universal encoding detector for Python 2 and 3"
-category = "dev"
+category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = "*"
 
@@ -340,6 +340,18 @@ six = ">=1.3.0"
 [package.extras]
 docs = ["sphinx"]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "flask-sqlalchemy"
+version = "2.4.4"
+description = "Adds SQLAlchemy support to your Flask application."
+category = "main"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">= 2.7, != 3.0.*, != 3.1.*, != 3.2.*, != 3.3.*"
+
+[package.dependencies]
+Flask = ">=0.10"
+SQLAlchemy = ">=0.8.0"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "flask-swagger-ui"
 version = "3.25.0"
@@ -385,7 +397,7 @@ python-versions = "*"
 name = "idna"
 version = "2.10"
 description = "Internationalized Domain Names in Applications (IDNA)"
-category = "dev"
+category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*"
 
@@ -638,7 +650,7 @@ pytest = "*"
 name = "python-dateutil"
 version = "2.8.1"
 description = "Extensions to the standard Python datetime module"
-category = "dev"
+category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = "!=3.0.*,!=3.1.*,!=3.2.*,>=2.7"
 
@@ -679,17 +691,17 @@ python-versions = "*"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "requests"
-version = "2.24.0"
+version = "2.25.1"
 description = "Python HTTP for Humans."
-category = "dev"
+category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*, !=3.4.*"
 
 [package.dependencies]
 certifi = ">=2017.4.17"
-chardet = ">=3.0.2,<4"
+chardet = ">=3.0.2,<5"
 idna = ">=2.5,<3"
-urllib3 = ">=1.21.1,<1.25.0 || >1.25.0,<1.25.1 || >1.25.1,<1.26"
+urllib3 = ">=1.21.1,<1.27"
 
 [package.extras]
 security = ["pyOpenSSL (>=0.14)", "cryptography (>=1.3.4)"]
@@ -793,7 +805,7 @@ python-versions = "*"
 name = "urllib3"
 version = "1.25.11"
 description = "HTTP library with thread-safe connection pooling, file post, and more."
-category = "dev"
+category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*, !=3.4.*, <4"
 
@@ -829,7 +841,7 @@ testing = ["pytest (>=3.5,!=3.7.3)", "pytest-checkdocs (>=1.2.3)", "pytest-flake
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "1.1"
 python-versions = "^3.5"
-content-hash = "db66f1e49ef4c5f9929c189d886b7c6b7d4306044a31e0eed7993d3ab6e9baab"
+content-hash = "77aef4a2b4ca9adc854dd74da351a5914a7807046dd280e4e957c6a8e3860b83"
 
 [metadata.files]
 aniso8601 = [
@@ -973,6 +985,10 @@ flask-restful = [
     {file = "Flask-RESTful-0.3.7.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:f8240ec12349afe8df1db168ea7c336c4e5b0271a36982bff7394f93275f2ca9"},
     {file = "Flask_RESTful-0.3.7-py2.py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:ecd620c5cc29f663627f99e04f17d1f16d095c83dc1d618426e2ad68b03092f8"},
 ]
+flask-sqlalchemy = [
+    {file = "Flask-SQLAlchemy-2.4.4.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:bfc7150eaf809b1c283879302f04c42791136060c6eeb12c0c6674fb1291fae5"},
+    {file = "Flask_SQLAlchemy-2.4.4-py2.py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:05b31d2034dd3f2a685cbbae4cfc4ed906b2a733cff7964ada450fd5e462b84e"},
+]
 flask-swagger-ui = [
     {file = "flask-swagger-ui-3.25.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:42d098997e06b04f992609c4945cc990738b269c153d8388fc59a91a5dfcee9e"},
 ]
@@ -1026,20 +1042,39 @@ markupsafe = [
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp35-cp35m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:6dd73240d2af64df90aa7c4e7481e23825ea70af4b4922f8ede5b9e35f78a3b1"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp35-cp35m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:9add70b36c5666a2ed02b43b335fe19002ee5235efd4b8a89bfcf9005bebac0d"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp36-cp36m-macosx_10_6_intel.whl", hash = "sha256:24982cc2533820871eba85ba648cd53d8623687ff11cbb805be4ff7b4c971aff"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp36-cp36m-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:d53bc011414228441014aa71dbec320c66468c1030aae3a6e29778a3382d96e5"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp36-cp36m-manylinux1_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:00bc623926325b26bb9605ae9eae8a215691f33cae5df11ca5424f06f2d1f473"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp36-cp36m-manylinux1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:717ba8fe3ae9cc0006d7c451f0bb265ee07739daf76355d06366154ee68d221e"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp36-cp36m-manylinux2010_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:3b8a6499709d29c2e2399569d96719a1b21dcd94410a586a18526b143ec8470f"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp36-cp36m-manylinux2010_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:84dee80c15f1b560d55bcfe6d47b27d070b4681c699c572af2e3c7cc90a3b8e0"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp36-cp36m-manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:b1dba4527182c95a0db8b6060cc98ac49b9e2f5e64320e2b56e47cb2831978c7"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp36-cp36m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:535f6fc4d397c1563d08b88e485c3496cf5784e927af890fb3c3aac7f933ec66"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp36-cp36m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:b1282f8c00509d99fef04d8ba936b156d419be841854fe901d8ae224c59f0be5"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-macosx_10_6_intel.whl", hash = "sha256:8defac2f2ccd6805ebf65f5eeb132adcf2ab57aa11fdf4c0dd5169a004710e7d"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:bf5aa3cbcfdf57fa2ee9cd1822c862ef23037f5c832ad09cfea57fa846dec193"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-manylinux1_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:46c99d2de99945ec5cb54f23c8cd5689f6d7177305ebff350a58ce5f8de1669e"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-manylinux1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:ba59edeaa2fc6114428f1637ffff42da1e311e29382d81b339c1817d37ec93c6"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-manylinux2010_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:6fffc775d90dcc9aed1b89219549b329a9250d918fd0b8fa8d93d154918422e1"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-manylinux2010_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:a6a744282b7718a2a62d2ed9d993cad6f5f585605ad352c11de459f4108df0a1"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:195d7d2c4fbb0ee8139a6cf67194f3973a6b3042d742ebe0a9ed36d8b6f0c07f"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:b00c1de48212e4cc9603895652c5c410df699856a2853135b3967591e4beebc2"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:9bf40443012702a1d2070043cb6291650a0841ece432556f784f004937f0f32c"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:6788b695d50a51edb699cb55e35487e430fa21f1ed838122d722e0ff0ac5ba15"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux1_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:cdb132fc825c38e1aeec2c8aa9338310d29d337bebbd7baa06889d09a60a1fa2"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:13d3144e1e340870b25e7b10b98d779608c02016d5184cfb9927a9f10c689f42"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux2010_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:acf08ac40292838b3cbbb06cfe9b2cb9ec78fce8baca31ddb87aaac2e2dc3bc2"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux2010_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:d9be0ba6c527163cbed5e0857c451fcd092ce83947944d6c14bc95441203f032"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:caabedc8323f1e93231b52fc32bdcde6db817623d33e100708d9a68e1f53b26b"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:596510de112c685489095da617b5bcbbac7dd6384aeebeda4df6025d0256a81b"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:e8313f01ba26fbbe36c7be1966a7b7424942f670f38e666995b88d012765b9be"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp39-cp39-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:d73a845f227b0bfe8a7455ee623525ee656a9e2e749e4742706d80a6065d5e2c"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp39-cp39-manylinux1_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:98bae9582248d6cf62321dcb52aaf5d9adf0bad3b40582925ef7c7f0ed85fceb"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp39-cp39-manylinux1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:2beec1e0de6924ea551859edb9e7679da6e4870d32cb766240ce17e0a0ba2014"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp39-cp39-manylinux2010_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:7fed13866cf14bba33e7176717346713881f56d9d2bcebab207f7a036f41b850"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp39-cp39-manylinux2010_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:6f1e273a344928347c1290119b493a1f0303c52f5a5eae5f16d74f48c15d4a85"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp39-cp39-manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:feb7b34d6325451ef96bc0e36e1a6c0c1c64bc1fbec4b854f4529e51887b1621"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp39-cp39-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:22c178a091fc6630d0d045bdb5992d2dfe14e3259760e713c490da5323866c39"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:b7d644ddb4dbd407d31ffb699f1d140bc35478da613b441c582aeb7c43838dd8"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:29872e92839765e546828bb7754a68c418d927cd064fd4708fab9fe9c8bb116b"},
 ]
 mccabe = [
@@ -1131,6 +1166,8 @@ pyyaml = [
     {file = "PyYAML-5.3.1-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:73f099454b799e05e5ab51423c7bcf361c58d3206fa7b0d555426b1f4d9a3eaf"},
     {file = "PyYAML-5.3.1-cp38-cp38-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:06a0d7ba600ce0b2d2fe2e78453a470b5a6e000a985dd4a4e54e436cc36b0e97"},
     {file = "PyYAML-5.3.1-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:95f71d2af0ff4227885f7a6605c37fd53d3a106fcab511b8860ecca9fcf400ee"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-5.3.1-cp39-cp39-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:ad9c67312c84def58f3c04504727ca879cb0013b2517c85a9a253f0cb6380c0a"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-5.3.1-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:6034f55dab5fea9e53f436aa68fa3ace2634918e8b5994d82f3621c04ff5ed2e"},
     {file = "PyYAML-5.3.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:b8eac752c5e14d3eca0e6dd9199cd627518cb5ec06add0de9d32baeee6fe645d"},
 ]
 regex = [
@@ -1179,8 +1216,8 @@ regex = [
     {file = "regex-2020.10.28.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:dd3e6547ecf842a29cf25123fbf8d2461c53c8d37aa20d87ecee130c89b7079b"},
 ]
 requests = [
-    {file = "requests-2.24.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:fe75cc94a9443b9246fc7049224f75604b113c36acb93f87b80ed42c44cbb898"},
-    {file = "requests-2.24.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:b3559a131db72c33ee969480840fff4bb6dd111de7dd27c8ee1f820f4f00231b"},
+    {file = "requests-2.25.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:c210084e36a42ae6b9219e00e48287def368a26d03a048ddad7bfee44f75871e"},
+    {file = "requests-2.25.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:27973dd4a904a4f13b263a19c866c13b92a39ed1c964655f025f3f8d3d75b804"},
 ]
 safety = [
     {file = "safety-1.9.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:86c1c4a031fe35bd624fce143fbe642a0234d29f7cbf7a9aa269f244a955b087"},
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1323ded7..8c52cca0 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ flask-swagger-ui = "3.25.0"
 PyYAML = "5.3.1"
 python-icat = "0.17.0"
 suds-community = "^0.8.4"
+Flask-SQLAlchemy = "^2.4.4"
+requests = "^2.25.1"
+python-dateutil = "^2.8.1"
 
 [tool.poetry.dev-dependencies]
 pip-tools = "5.3.1"
diff --git a/test/conftest.py b/test/conftest.py
index d4039374..c699ce20 100644
--- a/test/conftest.py
+++ b/test/conftest.py
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ def flask_test_app_db():
 
     api, spec = create_app_infrastructure(db_app)
     create_api_endpoints(db_app, api, spec)
+    db_app.app_context().push()
 
     yield db_app.test_client()
 
diff --git a/test/icat/conftest.py b/test/icat/conftest.py
index 05efd649..48198dad 100644
--- a/test/icat/conftest.py
+++ b/test/icat/conftest.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
     create_api_endpoints,
     create_app_infrastructure,
 )
+from test.icat.endpoints.test_create_icat import TestICATCreateData
 from test.icat.test_query import prepare_icat_data_for_assertion
 
 
@@ -154,3 +155,37 @@ def final_facilitycycle_id(flask_test_app_icat, valid_icat_credentials_header):
         headers=valid_icat_credentials_header,
     )
     return final_facilitycycle_result.json["id"]
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def remove_test_created_investigation_data(
+    flask_test_app_icat, valid_icat_credentials_header,
+):
+    """
+    This is used to delete the data created inside `test_valid` test functions in
+    TestICATCreateData
+
+    This is done by fetching the data which has been created in
+    those functions (by using the investigation name prefix, as defined in the test
+    class), extracting the IDs from the results, and iterating over those to perform
+    DELETE by ID requests
+    """
+
+    yield
+
+    created_test_data = flask_test_app_icat.get(
+        '/investigations?where={"name":{"like":'
+        f'"{TestICATCreateData.investigation_name_prefix}"'
+        "}}",
+        headers=valid_icat_credentials_header,
+    )
+
+    investigation_ids = []
+    for investigation in created_test_data.json:
+        investigation_ids.append(investigation["id"])
+
+    for investigation_id in investigation_ids:
+        flask_test_app_icat.delete(
+            f"/investigations/{investigation_id}",
+            headers=valid_icat_credentials_header,
+        )
diff --git a/test/icat/endpoints/test_create_icat.py b/test/icat/endpoints/test_create_icat.py
index 6c41f961..c20aeaba 100644
--- a/test/icat/endpoints/test_create_icat.py
+++ b/test/icat/endpoints/test_create_icat.py
@@ -1,13 +1,18 @@
+import pytest
+
 from test.icat.test_query import prepare_icat_data_for_assertion
 
 
 class TestICATCreateData:
+    investigation_name_prefix = "Test Data for API Testing, Data Creation"
+
+    @pytest.mark.usefixtures("remove_test_created_investigation_data")
     def test_valid_create_data(
         self, flask_test_app_icat, valid_icat_credentials_header,
     ):
         create_investigations_json = [
             {
-                "name": f"Test Data for API Testing, Data Creation {i}",
+                "name": f"{self.investigation_name_prefix} {i}",
                 "title": "Test data for the Python ICAT Backend on DataGateway API",
                 "summary": "Test data for DataGateway API testing",
                 "releaseDate": "2020-03-03 08:00:08+00:00",
@@ -27,13 +32,9 @@ def test_valid_create_data(
             json=create_investigations_json,
         )
 
-        test_data_ids = []
-        for investigation_request, investigation_response in zip(
-            create_investigations_json, test_response.json,
-        ):
+        for investigation_request in create_investigations_json:
             investigation_request.pop("facility")
             investigation_request.pop("type")
-            test_data_ids.append(investigation_response["id"])
 
         response_json = prepare_icat_data_for_assertion(
             test_response.json, remove_id=True,
@@ -41,20 +42,14 @@ def test_valid_create_data(
 
         assert create_investigations_json == response_json
 
-        # Delete the entities created by this test
-        for investigation_id in test_data_ids:
-            flask_test_app_icat.delete(
-                f"/investigations/{investigation_id}",
-                headers=valid_icat_credentials_header,
-            )
-
+    @pytest.mark.usefixtures("remove_test_created_investigation_data")
     def test_valid_boundary_create_data(
         self, flask_test_app_icat, valid_icat_credentials_header,
     ):
         """Create a single investigation, as opposed to multiple"""
 
         create_investigation_json = {
-            "name": "Test Data for API Testing, Data Creation 0",
+            "name": f"{self.investigation_name_prefix} 0",
             "title": "Test data for the Python ICAT Backend on the API",
             "summary": "Test data for DataGateway API testing",
             "releaseDate": "2020-03-03 08:00:08+00:00",
@@ -74,7 +69,6 @@ def test_valid_boundary_create_data(
 
         create_investigation_json.pop("facility")
         create_investigation_json.pop("type")
-        created_test_data_id = test_response.json[0]["id"]
 
         response_json = prepare_icat_data_for_assertion(
             test_response.json, remove_id=True,
@@ -82,11 +76,6 @@ def test_valid_boundary_create_data(
 
         assert [create_investigation_json] == response_json
 
-        flask_test_app_icat.delete(
-            f"/investigations/{created_test_data_id}",
-            headers=valid_icat_credentials_header,
-        )
-
     def test_invalid_create_data(
         self, flask_test_app_icat, valid_icat_credentials_header,
     ):
diff --git a/test/test_config.py b/test/test_config.py
index 4d5da769..248764cb 100644
--- a/test/test_config.py
+++ b/test/test_config.py
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@
 
 @pytest.fixture()
 def valid_config():
-    return Config(path=Path(__file__).parent.parent / "config.json.example")
+    return Config(
+        path=Path(__file__).parent.parent / "datagateway_api" / "config.json.example",
+    )
 
 
 @pytest.fixture()
diff --git a/util/icat_db_generator.py b/util/icat_db_generator.py
index 46ec0eea..5a5268a5 100644
--- a/util/icat_db_generator.py
+++ b/util/icat_db_generator.py
@@ -5,9 +5,12 @@
 from random import choice, randrange, seed
 
 from faker import Faker
+from sqlalchemy import create_engine
+from sqlalchemy.orm import scoped_session, sessionmaker
+from sqlalchemy.pool import QueuePool
 
+from datagateway_api.common.constants import Constants
 from datagateway_api.common.database import models
-from datagateway_api.common.database.session_manager import session_manager
 
 parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
 parser.add_argument(
@@ -33,7 +36,12 @@
 faker.seed(SEED)
 seed(a=SEED)
 
-session = session_manager.get_icat_db_session()
+
+engine = create_engine(
+    Constants.DATABASE_URL, poolclass=QueuePool, pool_size=100, max_overflow=0,
+)
+session_factory = sessionmaker(engine)
+session = scoped_session(session_factory)()
 
 
 def post_entity(entity):