What a woman in R&D completely altered (8)
I believe the answer is:
rehashed
'completely altered' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I don't see how one could define the other.
'what a woman in rd' is the wordplay.
'what' becomes 'eh' (I've seen this in other clues).
'woman' becomes 'she' (**).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'eh'+'a'+'she'='ehashe'
'ehashe' put inside 'rd' is 'REHASHED'.
(Other definitions for rehashed that I've seen before include "Shaped old material into new form with no great improvement" , "Given makeover" , "Presented again with few or no changes" .)