diff --git a/repo2docker/buildpacks/julia/julia_project.py b/repo2docker/buildpacks/julia/julia_project.py
index e9bd4fb8..d1a136f6 100644
--- a/repo2docker/buildpacks/julia/julia_project.py
+++ b/repo2docker/buildpacks/julia/julia_project.py
@@ -66,6 +66,12 @@ class JuliaProjectTomlBuildPack(PythonBuildPack):
             ('JUPYTER', '${NB_PYTHON_PREFIX}/bin/jupyter')
         ]
 
+    def get_env(self):
+        return super().get_env() + [
+            ('JULIA_PROJECT', '${REPO_DIR}')
+        ]
+
+
     def get_path(self):
         """Adds path to Julia binaries to user's PATH.
 
@@ -118,7 +124,7 @@ class JuliaProjectTomlBuildPack(PythonBuildPack):
             (
                 "${NB_USER}",
                 r"""
-                julia -e "using Pkg; Pkg.add(\"IJulia\"); using IJulia; installkernel(\"Julia\", \"--project=${REPO_DIR}\", env=Dict(\"JUPYTER_DATA_DIR\"=>\"${NB_PYTHON_PREFIX}/share/jupyter\"));" && \
+                JULIA_PROJECT="" julia -e "using Pkg; Pkg.add(\"IJulia\"); using IJulia; installkernel(\"Julia\", env=Dict(\"JUPYTER_DATA_DIR\"=>\"${NB_PYTHON_PREFIX}/share/jupyter\"));" && \
                 julia --project=${REPO_DIR} -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.instantiate(); pkg"precompile"'
                 """
             )
diff --git a/tests/julia/julia_version-1.0.2/verify b/tests/julia/julia_version-1.0.2/verify
index e9168361..51b19d9a 100755
--- a/tests/julia/julia_version-1.0.2/verify
+++ b/tests/julia/julia_version-1.0.2/verify
@@ -4,9 +4,6 @@ if VERSION != v"1.0.2"
     exit(1)
 end
 
-using Pkg
-pkg"activate ."
-
 try
     # Test that the package was installed.
     using IteratorInterfaceExtensions
diff --git a/tests/julia/julia_version-default/verify b/tests/julia/julia_version-default/verify
index 3518e515..46040d14 100755
--- a/tests/julia/julia_version-default/verify
+++ b/tests/julia/julia_version-default/verify
@@ -4,9 +4,6 @@ if VERSION < v"1.1.0"
     exit(1)
 end
 
-using Pkg
-pkg"activate ."
-
 try
     # Test that the package was installed.
     using IteratorInterfaceExtensions