[5][2] His undergraduate studies was at Imperial College London, graduating with first class honours in botany at the age of 20 and won the Forbes Memorial Medal and Prize in Biology.
[5] M. F. Madelin continued his graduate studies at the same institution under the supervision of the pioneer British plant pathologist, R. K. S. Wood, and earned his PhD in mycology in 1954.
[1] Moving back to Imperial College, he taught courses in plant pathology before accepting a mycology research-lectureship at the University of Bristol in 1962.
[2][5] Madelin was a visiting researcher at several institutions abroad in Chennai, India; Suva, Fiji and Madrid, Spain.
[5] He was influential in other international meetings in mycology, particularly those held in Kananaskis, Alberta; Gwatt, Switzerland; Exeter, UK and Berkeley, California.