diff --git a/bear/data_file.py b/bear/data_file.py
index 7f8077f..231d023 100644
--- a/bear/data_file.py
+++ b/bear/data_file.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import pkg_resources
+import importlib_resources
 import os
 
 
@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@ def get_path(file_url):
         # try to find the file in a couple of different places
         for package, prefix in ("bear", "data/"), ("visr_bear_data", ""):
             try:
-                full_path = pkg_resources.resource_filename(package, prefix + path)
+                full_path = importlib_resources.files(package) / prefix / path
             except ModuleNotFoundError:
                 continue
 
-            if os.path.isfile(full_path):
-                return full_path
+            if full_path.is_file():
+                return str(full_path)
         else:
             raise Exception(f"resource '{path}' not found")
     elif file_url.startswith("file:"):
diff --git a/flake.lock b/flake.lock
index 42dd02e..ee9d76f 100644
--- a/flake.lock
+++ b/flake.lock
@@ -3,11 +3,11 @@
     "ear_src": {
       "flake": false,
       "locked": {
-        "lastModified": 1696330591,
-        "narHash": "sha256-dpJtZ974HrSklPIh78UByjhEGsbVyltklceIcCZ81a4=",
+        "lastModified": 1712678150,
+        "narHash": "sha256-dwLalhg6rwdXKtY4iph3/bZuU+aW5sXbKVv8pqLOS5g=",
         "ref": "master",
-        "rev": "29efa875c772e86b09c9154381cbe2d1db60f999",
-        "revCount": 239,
+        "rev": "a04e287f247809653a031b7c99306066ec3d94c1",
+        "revCount": 364,
         "type": "git",
         "url": "https://github.com/ebu/ebu_adm_renderer.git"
       },
@@ -22,11 +22,11 @@
         "systems": "systems"
       },
       "locked": {
-        "lastModified": 1694529238,
-        "narHash": "sha256-zsNZZGTGnMOf9YpHKJqMSsa0dXbfmxeoJ7xHlrt+xmY=",
+        "lastModified": 1710146030,
+        "narHash": "sha256-SZ5L6eA7HJ/nmkzGG7/ISclqe6oZdOZTNoesiInkXPQ=",
         "owner": "numtide",
         "repo": "flake-utils",
-        "rev": "ff7b65b44d01cf9ba6a71320833626af21126384",
+        "rev": "b1d9ab70662946ef0850d488da1c9019f3a9752a",
         "type": "github"
       },
       "original": {
@@ -38,11 +38,11 @@
     "libear_src": {
       "flake": false,
       "locked": {
-        "lastModified": 1683050932,
-        "narHash": "sha256-4Ce1B9Ajuw9K8zy2PVl46DTqae5biPVftDGNCaFedbU=",
+        "lastModified": 1712698185,
+        "narHash": "sha256-yLOWHkhUI57vPDf9G/GvFHwD0bQEsl9dE3ll/0d0r0Y=",
         "ref": "master",
-        "rev": "10e071784d7f033fee8e456032458f10dd1da174",
-        "revCount": 83,
+        "rev": "2db69f8fcea0bc5db8a78e14a9c2ae6ed4283c15",
+        "revCount": 109,
         "type": "git",
         "url": "https://github.com/ebu/libear.git"
       },
@@ -54,11 +54,11 @@
     },
     "nixpkgs": {
       "locked": {
-        "lastModified": 1701539137,
-        "narHash": "sha256-nVO/5QYpf1GwjvtpXhyxx5M3U/WN0MwBro4Lsk+9mL0=",
+        "lastModified": 1713344939,
+        "narHash": "sha256-jpHkAt0sG2/J7ueKnG7VvLLkBYUMQbXQ2L8OBpVG53s=",
         "owner": "NixOS",
         "repo": "nixpkgs",
-        "rev": "933d7dc155096e7575d207be6fb7792bc9f34f6d",
+        "rev": "e402c3eb6d88384ca6c52ef1c53e61bdc9b84ddd",
         "type": "github"
       },
       "original": {
@@ -94,12 +94,13 @@
     "visr_src": {
       "flake": false,
       "locked": {
-        "lastModified": 1706626832,
-        "narHash": "sha256-AXvgWBvQZwi88zglKRK9quFfG52oqJaBldcREeqV3xI=",
-        "owner": "ebu",
-        "repo": "bear",
-        "rev": "7ba1653b67c305d7245c2798f81b8e27889342c6",
-        "type": "github"
+        "lastModified": 1713548227,
+        "narHash": "sha256-xPwZDL9LVokj6/eZs22xVU3GLc/MLcAUZvHTJ3ixp2Y=",
+        "ref": "visr",
+        "rev": "6907b24a250c9dadf1028fb5e8764eaa078a184f",
+        "revCount": 19,
+        "type": "git",
+        "url": "https://github.com/ebu/bear.git"
       },
       "original": {
         "ref": "visr",
diff --git a/nix/bear.nix b/nix/bear.nix
index 3d8b1ee..e449f41 100644
--- a/nix/bear.nix
+++ b/nix/bear.nix
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 python.pkgs.buildPythonPackage rec {
   name = "bear";
   inherit src;
-  propagatedBuildInputs = with python.pkgs; [ numpy ear setuptools visr_python visr_bear ];
+  propagatedBuildInputs = with python.pkgs; [ numpy ear importlib-resources visr_python visr_bear ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = with python.pkgs; [ setuptools ];
   nativeCheckInputs = [ python.pkgs.pytest numpy_quaternion ];
   checkPhase = lib.optionalString (visr_bear != null) ''
     pytest visr_bear/test
diff --git a/nix/ear.nix b/nix/ear.nix
index c95c51b..f281db0 100644
--- a/nix/ear.nix
+++ b/nix/ear.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
-{ stdenv, python, fetchFromGitHub, src }:
+{ stdenv, python, src }:
 python.pkgs.buildPythonPackage rec {
   name = "ear";
   inherit src;
-  propagatedBuildInputs = with python.pkgs; [ numpy scipy six attrs multipledispatch lxml pyyaml setuptools ];
+  propagatedBuildInputs = with python.pkgs; [ numpy scipy six attrs multipledispatch lxml pyyaml importlib-resources ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = with python.pkgs; [ setuptools ];
+  pyproject = true;
+
   doCheck = false;
 }
diff --git a/nix/visr.nix b/nix/visr.nix
index 4f6a4e4..680f6f4 100644
--- a/nix/visr.nix
+++ b/nix/visr.nix
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "VISR";
   inherit src;
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ninja boost ] ++ lib.optional enable_python python.buildEnv;
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ninja boost ] ++ lib.optional enable_python python;
   cmakeFlags = [
     "-DBUILD_AUDIOINTERFACES_PORTAUDIO=FALSE"
     "-DBUILD_USE_SNDFILE_LIBRARY=FALSE"
@@ -13,4 +13,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     substituteInPlace CMakeLists.txt \
       --replace "\''${VISR_TOPLEVEL_INSTALL_DIRECTORY}/python" "$out/${python.sitePackages}"
   '';
+
+  preCheck = ''
+    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$(pwd)/lib
+    export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=$(pwd)/lib
+  '';
+
+  nativeCheckInputs = lib.optionals enable_python [
+    python.pkgs.numpy
+    python.pkgs.scipy
+    python.pkgs.pytest
+  ];
+
+  doCheck = true;
 }
diff --git a/nix/visr_bear.nix b/nix/visr_bear.nix
index c9014af..955e4f1 100644
--- a/nix/visr_bear.nix
+++ b/nix/visr_bear.nix
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     eigen
     libear
     rapidjson
-  ] ++ (if enable_python then [ python.buildEnv visr_python ] else [ visr ]);
+  ] ++ (if enable_python then [ python visr_python ] else [ visr ]);
   cmakeFlags = [
     "-DBEAR_UNIT_TESTS=true"
     "-DBEAR_DATA_PATH_DEFAULT=${data_files.default.file}"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 797988d..4a51cb1 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
     version="0.0.1",
     install_requires=[
         "ear~=2.1",
+        "importlib_resources",
         "numpy",
     ],
     packages=find_packages(),