diff --git a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SearchUtils.java b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SearchUtils.java
index 8c5ee641c1..f14ca124f4 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SearchUtils.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SearchUtils.java
@@ -52,6 +52,9 @@ public class SearchUtils {
      */
     private SearchUtils() { }
 
+    /**
+     * Return an instance of the {@link SearchService}.
+     */
     public static SearchService getSearchService() {
         if (searchService == null) {
             org.dspace.kernel.ServiceManager manager = DSpaceServicesFactory.getInstance().getServiceManager();
@@ -60,6 +63,16 @@ public class SearchUtils {
         return searchService;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Clear the cached {@link SearchService} instance, forcing it to be retrieved from the service manager again
+     * next time {@link SearchUtils#getSearchService} is called.
+     * In practice, this is only necessary for integration tests in some environments
+     * where the cached version may no longer be up to date between tests.
+     */
+    public static void clearCachedSearchService() {
+        searchService = null;
+    }
+
     public static DiscoveryConfiguration getDiscoveryConfiguration() {
         return getDiscoveryConfiguration(null, null);
     }
diff --git a/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/AbstractDSpaceIntegrationTest.java b/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/AbstractDSpaceIntegrationTest.java
index 1abc4e017d..5a5ce8bf6d 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/AbstractDSpaceIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/AbstractDSpaceIntegrationTest.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import java.util.TimeZone;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 import org.dspace.builder.AbstractBuilder;
+import org.dspace.discovery.SearchUtils;
 import org.dspace.servicemanager.DSpaceKernelImpl;
 import org.dspace.servicemanager.DSpaceKernelInit;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
@@ -104,6 +105,7 @@ public class AbstractDSpaceIntegrationTest {
 
         // Unload DSpace services
         AbstractBuilder.destroy();
+        SearchUtils.clearCachedSearchService();
 
         // NOTE: We explicitly do NOT stop/destroy the kernel, as it is cached
         // in the Spring ApplicationContext. By default, to speed up tests,
diff --git a/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/app/bulkedit/MetadataExportSearchIT.java b/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/app/bulkedit/MetadataExportSearchIT.java
index 16cb9088f9..3a972692ef 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/app/bulkedit/MetadataExportSearchIT.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/app/bulkedit/MetadataExportSearchIT.java
@@ -53,13 +53,15 @@ public class MetadataExportSearchIT extends AbstractIntegrationTestWithDatabase
     private Collection collection;
     private Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(MetadataExportSearchIT.class);
     private ConfigurationService configurationService = DSpaceServicesFactory.getInstance().getConfigurationService();
-    private SearchService searchService = SearchUtils.getSearchService();
+    private SearchService searchService;
 
     @Override
     @Before
     public void setUp() throws Exception {
         super.setUp();
 
+        searchService = SearchUtils.getSearchService();
+
         // dummy search so that the SearchService gets called in a test context first
         DiscoverQuery query = new DiscoverQuery();
         query.setMaxResults(0);
diff --git a/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/discovery/DiscoveryIT.java b/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/discovery/DiscoveryIT.java
index 0524b9c2a3..0d1cc13106 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/discovery/DiscoveryIT.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/discovery/DiscoveryIT.java
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ import org.dspace.xmlworkflow.storedcomponents.ClaimedTask;
 import org.dspace.xmlworkflow.storedcomponents.PoolTask;
 import org.dspace.xmlworkflow.storedcomponents.XmlWorkflowItem;
 import org.dspace.xmlworkflow.storedcomponents.service.ClaimedTaskService;
+import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpServletRequest;
 
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ import org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpServletRequest;
 public class DiscoveryIT extends AbstractIntegrationTestWithDatabase {
 
     protected WorkspaceItemService workspaceItemService = ContentServiceFactory.getInstance().getWorkspaceItemService();
-    protected SearchService searchService = SearchUtils.getSearchService();
+    protected SearchService searchService;
 
     XmlWorkflowService workflowService = XmlWorkflowServiceFactory.getInstance().getXmlWorkflowService();
 
@@ -92,9 +93,11 @@ public class DiscoveryIT extends AbstractIntegrationTestWithDatabase {
                                                                                       .getMetadataAuthorityService();
 
     @Override
+    @Before
     public void setUp() throws Exception {
         super.setUp();
         configurationService.setProperty("solr-database-resync.time-until-reindex", 1);
+        searchService = SearchUtils.getSearchService();
     }
 
     @Test