Ever-more stringent environmental regulations have driven the automotive industry to continuously develop lightweight solutions in automotive body sheet materials, without compromising of passenger safety and manufacturing robustness. Steels with small amounts of alloying elements such as vanadium, molybdenum (also called micro-alloyed steels) strengthened via nano-precipitates, are potential candidate materials fitting these requirements. To be able to control the dispersion of nano-precipitates and understands its effect on mechanical properties, a detailed understanding of their formation and growth kinetics at the nanoscale is essential. This proposal is a part of an ongoing EPSRC funded (£600K from Sep. 2014-Sep. 2017) project, which aims to develop new micro-alloyed steels with enhanced strength. This project is collaboration between the University of Warwick and Tata steel.